There is a huge misconception
when it comes to the genetic consequences
of having children with your first cousin.
In fact, they are no greater
than a woman giving birth at the age of 40.
It jumps from about two percent to four percent
for a maximum of maybe seven percent,
but it's really negligible,
not even a full standard deviation in statistical terms,
completely overblown.
We hear stories all the time of a regular relationship,
not cousins, and they have issues with their children.
Their children end up being special needs,
but nobody's sitting there pointing the finger at them.
We are not trying to have children.
We are not actively seeking childbirth,
but if we do end up doing that,
we'll both be the best parents we can be.
Well, actually, people are pointing the finger at them.
They're saying that these are high-risk pregnancies
and are not recommended in the medical community.
First cousins, Angie and Michael say,
if they got pregnant,
they would welcome their child with open arms.
They say they are sick and tired of misinformation
about first cousins having children.
Well, Dr Dena Grayson is a medical doctor,
biochemist and medical researcher,
who has helped develop treatments and preventions
in hematology, oncology, infectious disease,
biodefense, nephrology, cardiology and neurology.
Her medical research has been published
in the world's most prestigious scientific journals.
And so, Dr Dena Grayson, weigh in on this, if you will.
The comment here is,
this is no greater risk
than a 40 year old having a pregnancy,
which is increased risk,
say it's not different than that.
That's just simply not true, is it?
Well, it's not true.
It's cherry picking the data.
So, if you only look at the time of birth
for congenital anomalies, there is similar risk.
It's slightly increased amongst first cousins
compared to women,
we call them advanced maternal aged,
so women over the age of 40.
But also understand
that just like your genes
program what ends up happening to you,
that's why my hair is curly,
why Dr Phil's hair is, well, Dr Phil's hair.
(audience laughing) (audience applauding)
That was uncalled for.
Cheap shot, right?
Super cheap shot.
Alright, go ahead.
And so when you look at that,
there's additional things you have to think about.
It's not just when your child is born.
So, you have an increased risk of miscarriage,
an increased risk of having a stillborn,
an increased risk of early childhood death,
increased risk of these congenital anomalies.
But now let's say you potentially have a healthy baby,
you have a lifetime risk of increased risk
for everything that's genetic.
Everyone carries around bad genes, right?
If you meet Joe Shmoe at a church
or wherever you meet Joe Shmoe
and you get married and you have children,
the chances are that your bad genes are not the same.
But you share an aunt and an uncle,
you share common relatives,
so the chances that your bad genes are similar
are so much higher than if you met somebody random.
And those are things
that now are beginning to be discovered and understood.
In these type marriages, stillbirths increase 80.6%.
Child deaths after birth increase 80%.
Miscarriages, 67%.
Congenital anomalies, 6.1%,
where non-consanguineous marriages are 2.4%.
And when you look at the congenital anomalies,
we're talking about nervous system defects,
congenital heart disease,
oral/facial clefts,
digestive, abdominal wall, urinary, genital,
limb and musculoskeletal abnormalities,
genetic diseases and blood disorders like hemophilia.
Three times more likely for mood disorders
and two times more likely for psychotic disorders.
So, these are increased risk substantially.
You're just simply wrong.
I don't know of anyone born from cousins
who has any problems.
What you're doing
is you're citing anecdotal information
compared to really scientific information
that has a big enough sample size
to really give you a database that you can rely on.
What we found was articles online saying,
articles online saying that the risks
were a couple percent higher for birth defects.
Before you listen to Dr Google,
you have to look and see
what agency published that information.
If you go back and see what published that,
and if it's Cousins R Us, then you've got to take it--
(audience laughing) That's true.
Cousins R Us.
No, you've got to take it with a grain of salt.
Sure, but I don't think there's too many
Cousins R Us out there
publishing false information on Google.
Well, it's not false information,
but it could be cherry picked information.
And that's the question. That's right.