Border community where cousins marry has highest incidence of rare illness
COLORADO CITY, Ariz. - In a dusty neighborhood under sheer sandstone cliffs studded with juniper on the Arizona-Utah border, a rare genetic disorder is spreading through polygamous families on a wave of inbreeding.

Polygamy fueling Ariz.'s rate of genetic disorder - More Health News - MSNBC.com

This does not come as a surprise. What is sad is the child's life - what the future holds for that child in a closed community.

I love how the media puts polygamy instead of inbreeding in the title, which is the cause of the problem. Polygamy doesn't cause genetic disorders.

Yes, the entire article had nothing to do with Polygamy.

But the other issue is that most recent studies, have shown that even the marriage of first cousins contain only a very small increased risk or genetic disorders.

What the issue seems to be here, is continued marriage ( if it is true of this group) or perhaps that this genetic disorder runs in a few of these specific famailes and because they don't leave the area like most of america does, the percentages of people are more noticeable.

Or it could be something in the soil, the water, their diet or even a curse from God. I would believe this story may well be less good news worthy and more grocrey store newspaper level.

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Originally Posted by michealb

I love how the media puts polygamy instead of inbreeding in the title, which is the cause of the problem. Polygamy doesn't cause genetic disorders.

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Polygamy is the reason for the inbreeding that is causing the problem. Should I have inserted a disclaimer for you fine LDS folks that not all Mormons practice Ppolygamy? They don't. How about a disclaimer that not all Mormons are nor Fundimentalist Latter Day Saints as this group is, that also, happen to believe in and practice polygamy. They aren't. So now what's your beef? I was just sickened by their behavior and having these children in the first place.

It's just that polygamy isn't the real issue in this case and if it is the author didn't do a good job at explaining it (I'm sorry if you happen to be the author of this article). I just don't understand why for example when they were after the leader of this group for child molestation they didn't say they were after a well known child molester, they said they were after a well known polygamist.
Of course I don't see anything inherently evil with polygamy as long as it is done between consenting adults and no one is under aged or forced into it.

Polygamy doesn't cause inbreeding. Reproducing with your cousins and siblings does. Now, perhaps the author was trying to illustrate in the article (rather unsuccessfully, if you ask me) that the incidence of this genetic disorder is amplified because the breeding pool is so low (most are blood relatives) and it is SPREADING because of polygamy. If this group did not practice polygamy, a married brother and sister can only produce one child in a year with this disorder; but since a brother can be married to and reproduce with say, five of his sisters, five children a year can be born with the disorder. Regardless, polygamy in and of itself does not cause inbreeding, or this disorder.

I agree with Micheal, and I don't care if a man wants to marry 14 women as long as they are all adults and consent. It's not for me, but if it floats your boat, go for it...

I understand why the article is named that , if it were not for their religious beliefs regarding marriage then there would less inbreeding, there by lessening the chance of this disorder. Maybe if they were out in the open and did not keep to thmeselves they would be able to choose from more mates.Hopefully, this will fuel change for these poor children. I believe pologamy is illegal and they should be prosecuted. So many crimes against women and children are hidden behind the guise of religion.

Their religious beliefs shun outsiders, which promotes inbreeding. Their belief in polygamy is only a problem because they have such a limited breeding pool. If they didn't believe in polygamy, you'd still have the same problem. If they allowed outsiders into their group you would not have this problem; polygamy or not.

Again, polygamy does not cause this disorder; it's the inbreeding. If a man marries 14 women who are not related to him and has babies with all of them, they will not have this disorder. If a man marries 14 of his sisters, that's a different story. Polygamy has probably contributed to the frequency of the disorder, but has nothing to do with its underlying cause.

To my knowledge polygamy is illegal; and I agree, many crimes against women and children (and men) are hidden behind the guise of religion.