UK calls on ban for cousins marrying-This is a step against Shariah

LONDON, May 11: A veteran MP has called for a ban on cousin-marriage – practised by South Asian Muslims in Britain, claiming it is leading to a striking rise in the incidence of rare recessive disorders, many of them fatal.
“We give warnings about the dangers of smoking, drinking and taking drugs. It is now time that primary care trusts started doing the same for cousin marriages,” said Mrs Anne Cryer, an MP from the ruling Labour party and a leading British campaigner on social issues. Mrs Cryer’s potentially controversial call comes ahead of a major debate to be held by the Royal Society of Medicine later this month to mark 100 years of medical genetics. Mrs Cryer said she had Asian constituents whose children were severely disabled.n IANS