The Fountain Magazine – Issue 99
There is a great deal of suspicion about consanguineous unions in the world. Whether this suspicion relies on health issues or not, we still have to be aware of possible genetic effects of consanguinity on heritable disorders and socio-cultural impacts.
Consanguinity itself does not make an individual “sick,” but it affects the probability of an autosomal recessive disorder (which requires two copies of the same mutation) if there is such a mutation which runs within the family (with the word “if” emphasized). Consanguinity should be regarded as a complex issue due to socio-economic factors and health concerns.
In clinical genetics, unions between individuals who are second cousins or closer are considered “consanguineous” (inbreeding coefficient, F=0.0156). Incestuous unions (e.g. brother-sister, father-daughter) will not be included in the description of consanguinity in this article, and are obviously outlawed in every society and faith.
Speaking from a statistical geneticist’s perspective, consanguinity affects the probabilities of certain genotypes occurring in offspring.
Full article in Issue #99 (Page 1)
Full article in Issue #99 (Page 2)
Full article in Issue #99 (Page 3)
For original online version, please click: The Fountain Magazine, Issue 99 – Consanguineous Marriages: Perspectives from Social Taboos, Religion, and Science. (*some parts about the religious and historical aspects of consanguinity were censored. If you’re interested in the original version, contact me…)
Additional references:
A. Mesut Erzurumluoglu, 2016. Population and family based studies of consanguinity: Genetic and Computational approaches. PhD thesis. University of Bristol.
Erzurumluoglu AM et al, 2016. Importance of Genetic Studies in Consanguineous Populations for the Characterization of Novel Human Gene Functions. Annals of Human Genetics, 80: 187–196.
PS: Although I did not ask for anything, it was very kind of The Fountain magazine editor to send me an honorarium letter (and a cheque)…
The Fountain magazine Honorarium letter
The Fountain magazine Honorarium cheque
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