Overview

• The Genomics Education Programme published new material describing first-cousin marriage as a cultural practice and recommending genetic counselling, awareness campaigns and public-health outreach instead of a legal ban.
• It quantifies risk by noting a child’s chance of a genetic condition rises from about 2–3% in the general population to roughly 4–6% for children of first cousins.
• Campaigners including Aisha Ali-Khan and Aneeta Prem urged the NHS to withdraw the article, citing safeguarding concerns, coercion and links to honour-based abuse.
• Conservative MP Richard Holden renewed calls to outlaw first-cousin marriage and has a bill before Parliament, though Downing Street has indicated no current plan to legislate.
• First-cousin marriage is legal in the UK and relatively common in some British Pakistani communities, with the Born in Bradford study reporting 46% of mothers in several inner-city wards married to a first or second cousin.