sep 25th, 2009
marriages between closely related people leads to genetic damage due to inbreeding, or so it is believed.
maybe there is yet hope that the arabs will die out :-) but then they have cleverly induced arab-wannabe-ness in afghans, pakis, malays, indonesians et al. from that point of view, mohammedanism, in addition to being an expression of arab imperialism, is also like a virus that infects people.
of course, christism is a similar virus of white imperialism.
and communism is a similar virus of chinese imperialism.
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From:
Shahryar | http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090922/NATIONAL/709219841/1040/OPINION
Arabs bear brunt of gene disorders Rasha Elass - Last Updated: September 22. 2009 2:17PM UAE / September 22. 2009 10:17AM GMT
DUBAI // Arabs suffer from one of the highest rates of genetic disease in the world, according to a research institute.
Some 906 genetic disorders have been identified in Arabs and their descendants, reports the Centre for Arab Genomic Studies (CAGS), and about 200 of those are prevalent among Arabs in the GCC alone.
It warns that the problem will require research and collaboration among medical communities.
In the UAE, 241 disorders have been identified in Arab citizens and expatriates combined, making the incidence in this country the second-highest in the Arab world after Oman; 119 genetic disorders are specific to Emiratis.
These figures are thought likely to rise, too, as researchers discover new disorders in the Arab world and record them in a database being developed by the CAGS.
The centre, funded by the Sheikh Hamdan Award for Medical Sciences, has completed studies of Bahrain, Oman and the UAE.
It plans to compile extensive data on genetic disorders in every Arab country to help pave the way for treatment and prevention-based health policies in the region.
Patients are defined as Arab if they are of Arab ancestry, whether on the maternal or paternal side and regardless of where they happen to live. Countries such as Brazil, Canada and France, for example, have large Arab communities.
"Why build this database? It gives us a bird's-eye view of each country on genetic diseases. Some are epidemic and some very rare," said Dr Ghazi Tadmouri, the assistant director of the CAGS.
Several common diseases in the UAE, Oman and Bahrain have reached epidemic levels – more than 100 cases per 100,000.
They include thalassaemia (a blood disorder), diabetes, breast cancer and Down's syndrome. Less common genetic disorders in the Emirates include muscular dystrophy and kidney disease.
About 63 per cent of the genetic conditions in Arab populations are due mostly to marriage between close relatives such as first cousins, clinically known as consanguinity.
Such marriages, deeply ingrained in Arab culture, are on the rise in the UAE, where the rate is the fifth-highest in the Arab world.
In Dubai, 40 per cent of marriages are between relatives, according to the latest statistics. In Al Ain that figure reaches 54 per cent, and in Abu Dhabi 32 per cent.
Across the Arab world, Sudan and Mauritania have the highest rates, amounting to two-thirds of all marriages. However, consanguinity is on the decline in, for example, Egypt and Tunisia.
The good news is that more than half the genetic disorders in Arab populations are the result of a defect in only one gene, which means it would be relatively easy to screen for such a gene and to prevent or treat the disorder.
However, Dr Tadmouri said there were no national projects aimed at controlling genetic disorders in most Arab countries.
Pre-natal detection of disease should be more available, he said, while early diagnosis was essential in treating many disorders. Other preventive measures included screening potential spouses for defective recessive genes.
"It is becoming mandatory to do basic screening for thalassaemia and other diseases before marriage," Dr Tadmouri said.
He called on medical professionals in Arab countries to keep track of genetic disorders. When he first started compiling data for the centre's database in 2004, he found there were many genetic disorders in the UAE that were not documented..
"There's little or no incentive for doctors here to keep track of such data from their patients," he said.
"We're hoping that the western educational establishments that are opening here will go beyond teaching a few disciplines here and there.
"We're hoping they will establish real academic institutions and build a vibrant academic atmosphere in the medical sciences.
"That's what the Arab world needs to overcome genetic disorders."
relass@thenational.ae
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7 comments:
What about the concept of murappennu in Kerala? In TN, uncles marry nieces. So, do you expect Mallus & tamils to die out?
P.S: I know this will not get published:-)
this practice was (may be is) rampant in south india also, particularly TN. The very concept of "moRaIpoNNu" is that only. In many village based tamil movies, you can see the hero loving his mama's daughter or something like that.
My north indian friends find it disgusting.
is this also one reason the smarter ones among those arabs and their off-shots look for hindu brides and our stupid hindu girls get sweept off their feet by their charms ?
i knew some wise guy (like jos or tambidude above) would bring up the murapennu business. thanks, guys.
you see, it is precisely those inbred idiot girls who are falling for the blandishments of mohammedan boys in kerala and other parts of south india. alas, it means they are, instead of taking themselves out of the gene pool, actually propagating their damaged genes :-) but then congenital idiots are great for jihadi cannon-fodder purposes :-(
murapennu: in kerala since we were matrilineal, one's uncle's child was not considered part of one's family -- being as she/he was the offspring of an unrelated woman who belonged to another matrilineal family. therefore one was permitted to marry such a first cousin: that is the 'mura + pennu', ie 'proper + girl', and mura-cherukkan, 'proper-boy'.
many such marriages did take place, and i suspect this is why communism is so strong in kerala :-)
although many of you might find this practice dubious, there is more. we malayalis look thoroughly askance at the tamil (dmk?) practice of uncles marrying nieces. that feels ... odd. i imagine dmk types are doing this still with gusto. after all, their god periyar did marry a young woman who was like 40 or 50 years younger than him. what a creep! (i think he was trying to show he was thoroughly mohammedan in practice, but he did carefully marry not a 6 year old, but a girl who was old enough that it would not be statutory rape!) clever guys, these dmk people.
Inbreeding in south is not as common as it is among Pakis, at least not in AP. It happens but not at the same level, i don't know personally of anyone who did it but I know many pakis who did it, in uk something like 25% of pakis marry cousins, similar rates among arabs i am guessing. Obviously this practice needs to be phased out & it will happen as people become more aware of the problems associated with it.
Among certain groups in the North like Jats the brother marries his brothers widow sometimes, while not genetically harmful that would also be looked at in distaste in AP (i don't know about rest of south) as an elder brothers wife is considered to be sort of a second mother.
harish - You are right. Cousing marriage in TN is no where as much as in Pak. Do you know few years back the Health Ministry of UK was trying to enact a law banning cousin marriages in UK because of genetic damage it does and the consequent healthcare cost in that socialist country. It obviously never got passed into a bill because of PC folks who thought they will invite the wrath of muslims.
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