Sunday, March 17, 2013

Consanguineous Marriages Common in Arab Countries

According to news printed at menafn.com, the country of Oman has more consanguineous marriages than most Arab countries, but there are nearby countries with higher rates. Consanguineous marriages have been common in many other regions of the world, too, for much of history. It's ridiculous that there are some US states that ban the consanguineous freedom to marry.
According to the data provided by M Mazharul Islam, assistant professor at SQU's department of mathematics and statistics, Oman is sixth after Sudan (63.3 per cent), Iraq (57.8 per cent), Saudi Arabia (56 per cent), Kuwait (54.3per cent) and Qatar (54 per cent) when it comes to consanguineous marriages. The rate is 40.2 per cent in urban areas and 34.1 per cent in rural areas.

Islam said, ''Data shows that the rate of consanguineous marriages in Oman is higher than observed in most Arab countries including Egypt (21 per cent), Morocco (22.8 per cent), Algeria (34 per cent ), Syria (35.4 per cent), Lebanon (37.8 per cent), Tunisia (39.3 per cent), Bahrain (43.1 per cent), Yemen (44.7 per cent), Mauritania (47.2 per cent), Jordan (48.1per cent), Libya (48.4 per cent) and the UAE (50.5 per cent), but lower than Qatar, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Sudan.
And...

He added, ''Unions between first cousins were the most common type of consanguineous unions, constituting 39 per cent of all marriages and 75 per cent of all consanguineous marriages. About 11 per cent of the marriages are polygynous.''
And...
He further revealed that a Nizwa Hospital-based study showed higher risk of congenital disorder among children of consanguineous couples than those of non-consanguineous couples. The risk of disfigurement and hepatitis is over two times higher among children from consanguine parents.
That means that if there is a 2% chance of any child having such a problem, a child born to consanguineous parents has a 4% chance. It isn't just genetics. It can be because they grew up in the same environment or had the same diet or otherwise had a similar lifestyle, ingesting the same toxins. Of course, unrelated people can have children with birth defects or diseases. Anyone who is worried about to get genetic counseling.

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