UK Health Service Faces Backlash After Suggesting Benefits to First-Cousin Unions

The publication of a guidance piece linking cousin marriage to stronger family bonds and economic stability has drawn fierce criticism—and was later pulled.

A recently published guidance by the NHS’s Genomics Education Programme claimed that first-cousin marriages may deliver “stronger extended family support systems” and “economic advantages (resources, property and inheritance can be consolidated rather than diluted across households).” 

The document, titled “Should the UK government ban first-cousin marriage?”, was swiftly removed following public and political uproar.

Opponents say the guidance dangerously downplayed the genetic risks of consanguineous marriage. As noted in NHS’s own figure, while the baseline risk of a child having a genetic condition is 2-3 percent, that risk may double to 4-6 percent for children of first cousins. 

Despite this, the Genomics Education Programme argued that most children born to cousin couples are healthy, and that greater attention should be paid to the social context, not prohibition. 

The British Society for Genetic Medicine, in a parliamentary briefing, cautioned that a ban on cousin marriage could alienate communities where the practice is more common, reduce trust in healthcare, and increase health inequities. 

They emphasize that the perceived benefits—bolstered family networks and shared inheritance—are real in some communities.

But critics were swift. Health Secretary Wes Streeting called the guidance “wrong” and demanded an apology. 

Conservative MP Richard Holden, who has introduced a private member’s bill to ban first-cousin marriage, accused the NHS of “taking the knee to damaging cultural practices.”