th immigration. A 2005 report, commissioned by MP Ann Cryer, revealed that the Pakistani community accounted for 30 per cent of all births with recessive disorders, despite representing 3.4 per cent of the birth rate nationwide. From that same period Dr Peter Corry, Consultant Paediatrician at Bradford Royal Infirmary, said his hospital saw so many recessive genetic illnesses that it had became a centre of excellence for the treatment of some of them. They'd identified about 140 different autosomal recessive disorders among local children: he estimated that a typical district would see 20 to 30.
It's not just the overwhelming medical evidence. The practice has been banned across Scandinavia chiefly because of the coercion:
The Swedish minister of justice, Gunnar Strömmer, correctly argues that a ban could help combat marriages entered into under pressure or coercion. Cousin marriages are frequently arranged or forced. In some cases, refusing to go through with the marriage can result in violence or even so-called honour killings. By banning cousin marriages, the Swedish government aims to break the cycle of coercion and control rooted in these practices.
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