The National Health Service (NHS), Britain’s massive taxpayer-funded healthcare system, is a true cautionary tale of big government failure. Decades of underfunding, chronic staff shortages, crumbling infrastructure, and an aging population have left the system overwhelmed, with record-high wait times for everything from routine appointments to life-saving surgeries.
The NHS has once again landed in controversy, this time for publishing guidance that actually downplays the health risks of incest. You can’t make this up. The system is collapsing, and its leadership is busy pushing woke absurdities.
Last week, NHS England published guidance that downplays the health risks of first-cousin marriage while suggesting that the practice actually comes with “stronger extended family support systems and economic advantages.” The document, which the NHS England Genomics Education Programme released, sparked an immediate backlash from critics.
How is it possible that the NHS would take such a stand? Is it bending over backwards to avoid offending Britain’s growing Muslim population, in which such marriages are culturally common and permitted under Islamic law? Instead of sounding like a clear-eyed medical authority, the guidance reads more like pandering to political sensitivities at the expense of public health.
The critics aren’t subtle about it. Richard Holden, a Conservative MP, flatly accused the NHS of giving undue cover to what he described as damaging cultural practices. Highlighting both the health risks and the wider social consequences, Holden noted, “The Conservatives want to see an end to cousin marriage as a backdoor to immigration too, but Labour are deaf to these sensible demands.” He didn’t stop there.
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He added, “Sir Keir Starmer should stop running scared of the misogynistic community controllers and their quislings who appear in the form of cultural relativist-obsessed sociology professors, and ban a practice the overwhelming majority, from every community in Britain, want to see ended for good.”
Holden isn’t exaggerating when it comes to the risks. Modern science is unequivocal that first-cousin marriage elevates the likelihood of genetic disorders like cystic fibrosis and sickle cell disease.
The NHS report actually acknowledged that risk, though it was quick to minimize it, almost as though genetics were just one factor to add to a list that includes alcohol abuse or late parenthood. That slippery equivalence suggests the NHS is far more worried about accusations of “stigma” against certain “cultural traditions” than about the suffering of children born with preventable conditions. In other words, they’re pandering to the growing Muslim population.
Even worse, the guidance appeared to give legitimacy to the idea that first-cousin marriage provides “benefits” for communities, citing social cohesion or economic advantages.
Marrying a first cousin is legal in the UK, but it increases the risk of children inheriting genetic conditions. Health issues such as sickle cell disease and cystic fibrosis are more likely to be carried or contracted in children with parents who are closely related.
Cultures that encourage first-cousin marriage have also been accused of oppressing women and being used as a tool to suppress personal freedoms.
Dr Patrick Nash, an expert on religious law and director of the Pharos Foundation social science research group in Oxford, called the guidance “truly dismaying”.
“Cousin marriage is incest, plain and simple, and needs to be banned with the utmost urgency – there is no ‘balance’ to be struck between this cultural lifestyle choice and the severe public health implications it incurs.
“This official article is deeply misleading and should be retracted with an apology so that the public is not misled by omission and half-truths.”
The NHS guidance points out that the practice has been legal in the UK since the 1500s as a loophole for King Henry VIII to marry Catherine Howard, his ex-wife’s cousin.
The NHS insists that the guidance was merely a neutral “summary of existing scientific research and the public policy debate” and not an official position. But that’s little consolation when its phrasing echoed the very arguments that those defending cousin marriage use as a cornerstone of identity, rather than confronting it as a public health and human rights problem. At a time when Britain’s Muslim population is growing quickly, the timing and tone of the guidance look less like coincidence and more like appeasement.
Britain’s NHS is sacrificing public health to appease its Muslim population, endorsing first-cousin marriage despite clear genetic dangers. PJ Media stands firm against woke cover-ups that harm society. Join PJ Media VIP to support truth and fearless reporting. Use the code FIGHT for 60% off—exclusive content, ad-free browsing, and more await. Act now!
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