A Saudi scholarship student in Britain has discovered a new genetic mutation that leads to muscle atrophy, weakened limbs and total paralysis in some cases. (“Saudi finds ‘disease gene’ linked to intermarriage,” April 18)
The report suggests that this “heritage paralysis,” as this disease is known in medical terms, is a significant leap forward in the world of genetic disease research. However, she says that 70 percent of hereditary diseases in Saudi Arabia occur due to people marrying and subsequently producing children with their bloodline relatives.
This particular discovery might be new, but the general concept in relation to other diseases, has been around for a long time. And this may be one reason why Saudi Arabia promotes medical screening for potential marriage candidates.
However, the disease was known to advanced countries too in the past and hence it is an open knowledge that marriage among family members was found to be the root cause of physical or mental abnormalities to the newly born babies. This may be the reason some countries strongly discourage or oppose marriages among family members or close relatives. In any case, since it would take a few generations to eliminate this problem so why not stop such marriages now? — Rashid Hasan, Jeddah
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