From the [London] Sunday Times, the BBC, [UK] Daily Mail, [UK] Guardian

Muslim leaders in Britain called for the removal of Phil Woolas, an environment minister and member of Parliament, after Woolas warned that inbreeding among immigrants is causing a surge in babies with genetic disabilities. Woolas warned that the issue is “the elephant in the room.”

A spokesman for the Muslim Public Affairs Committee characterized the comments as “racist” and “typical of the Islamaphobia that we have witnessed in large parts of the media recently.”

Woolas called for a national debate over the practice of first cousin marriages, which he said did not extend to all Muslim communities but was confined mainly to families originating from rural Pakistan.

“If you talk to any primary care worker they will tell you that levels of disability among the . . . Pakistani population are higher than the general population. And everybody knows it’s caused by first cousin marriage.

“That’s a cultural thing rather than a religious thing. It is not illegal in this country.

“The problem is that many of the parents themselves and many of the public spokespeople are themselves products of first cousin marriages. It’s very difficult for people to say ‘you can’t do that’ because it’s a very sensitive, human thing.”

… Research for BBC2’s Newsnight in November 2005 showed British Pakistanis accounted for 3.4 per cent of all births but have 30 per cent of all British children with recessive disorders.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown sought to distance himself from the controversy, saying through a spokesman that Woolas was speaking as a local MP and that such matters are best handled by local health officials.

This entry was posted on Monday, February 11th, 2008 at 9:23 am and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, genetics, international, politics, religion. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post