Polygamist community faces rare genetic disorder

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Amraann

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070614/us_nm/usa_mormons_genes_dc;_ylt=AnMmt39pbZ_u0PlwJAwCPFfMWM0F

The twin border communities of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona, have the world's highest known prevalence of fumarase deficiency, an enzyme irregularity that causes severe mental retardation brought on by cousin marriage, doctors say.

Nice. You would think at this point they would stop breeding with each other??

ETA: The article says ...."Arizona has about half the world's population of known fumarase deficiency patients," said Dr. Theodore Tarby, a pediatric neurologist who has treated many of the children at Arizona clinics under contracts with the state."

SO basically we are all paying for these children? OK I am just going to back away from my computer....
 
Unfortunately I do not think this will ever discourage them, they have it so justified in their minds, that Polygamy is from God. And as long as they are having to keep it quiet because of the law, they are going to continue to keep it "all in the family" so to speak.
 
I think it's really, really sad! These poor innocent children. This coming from an active Mormon. I don't believe in what these sects are doing and I think it's the innocent children who are hurt most by it!
 
I think biologically that having many mates is a part of nature. I'm not opposed to people having sex with as many partners as they choose, so long as they don't cross bloodlines. I've heard stories of people who have slept with cousins who later found out that they were related. I can imagine that may screw you up a bit to find that one out. :doh:
 
Anngelique... I know that the mainstream Mormon church does not condone this practice and I agree about the children.
T93 I agree it won't.

Paladin you reminded me of a story..
We had a friend who picked up a girl at a bar .... they get to his place and she is looking at this wall of family pictures and she says "Hey! that is my grandfather!" He was like OK you have to go now ....
It was HIS grandfather too... LOL
Not funny I know but I still laugh..
 
t93 said:
Unfortunately I do not think this will ever discourage them, they have it so justified in their minds, that Polygamy is from God. And as long as they are having to keep it quiet because of the law, they are going to continue to keep it "all in the family" so to speak.
Click to expand...

We should be clear that in this instance, the problem isn't polygamy per se, but inbreeding. (I'm not advocating either.) I'm sure you didn't mean to suggest otherwise.
 
I've been following the story of the FLDS for a while now. The genetic problems don't worry me nearly so much as the church-sanctioned child sexual abuse. There are some sad sad stories coming out of that church of forced marriages, some of the girls as young as 12. :(
 
hipmamajen said:
I've been following the story of the FLDS for a while now. The genetic problems don't worry me nearly so much as the church-sanctioned child sexual abuse. There are some sad sad stories coming out of that church of forced marriages, some of the girls as young as 12. :(
Click to expand...

Sexual abuse and other forms, too. As far as I'm concerned, raising children with no knowledge of the outside world is a form of kidnapping, for how are they ever to make inform decisions about the lives they want to live?
 
I thought a lot of cultures and past royalty regularly married cousins. Maybe some of these cases and couples are more closely related somewhere down the line than the experts realize.
 
txsvicki said:
I thought a lot of cultures and past royalty regularly married cousins. Maybe some of these cases and couples are more closely related somewhere down the line than the experts realize.
Click to expand...


IN Era's past that is true and many of them suffered from mental illnesses and other problems as the bloodlines continued to thin with all of the inbreeding.

I know this is a sorry example but if you look at many breeds of AKC registered dogs you will find that inbreeding done to enhance the desired traits caused many health problems we now see commonly in breed specific dogs... For example the hip problems in German Shepards and the hearing problems that you often see in Dalmations.
 
Polygamy is practiced in most cultures around the world. Such cultures also have incest laws that encourage marriage/procreation with people outside the immediate family, although cross-cousin marriage (outside the descent group) is very common. The problem here, as Nova has stated, is inbreeding.
 
Paladin said:
I think biologically that having many mates is a part of nature. I'm not opposed to people having sex with as many partners as they choose, so long as they don't cross bloodlines. I've heard stories of people who have slept with cousins who later found out that they were related. I can imagine that may screw you up a bit to find that one out. :doh:
Click to expand...

I agree with this post. My husband accidentally slept with a cousin in Ireland once. (well, I mean - the sleeping with her wasn't accidental, but he didn't know they were related!) It definitely freaked him out!
 
hipmamajen said:
I've been following the story of the FLDS for a while now. The genetic problems don't worry me nearly so much as the church-sanctioned child sexual abuse. There are some sad sad stories coming out of that church of forced marriages, some of the girls as young as 12. :(
Click to expand...
Either the genetic disorder or child sexual abuse, it's the children who suffer and it should be stopped and they should be jailed. End of story. Stop the suffering of innocent children.
 
almost completely off topic (if you watch the show you'd agree) but does anyone here watch big love on HBO?
 
pedinurse said:
almost completely off topic (if you watch the show you'd agree) but does anyone here watch big love on HBO?
Click to expand...

My stepdaughter loves that show and pestered us until we sat down and watched the entire first season in time to catch the beginning of the second.

I am entirely hooked! Even though, for some reason, that show gives me weird dreams--not nightmares, exactly, and nothing violent, just really strange.

I think the "Compound" on the show is based on the community discussed in this thread. So your post isn't really off-topic.

Actually, I had some questions I wanted to ask Anngelique, but I didn't want her to think I associate polygamy with the Church of Latter Day Saints (since the show very clearly distinguishes between the two). In fact, Big Love has proved educational for me. I knew the Mormons had officially banned polygamy in 1890, but I didn't realize how much they disapprove of the practice until I saw the show.
 
Nova said:
We should be clear that in this instance, the problem isn't polygamy per se, but inbreeding. (I'm not advocating either.) I'm sure you didn't mean to suggest otherwise.
Click to expand...
Nope, it isn't the polygamy-it is the fact that it is against the law that can create the conditions that end up causing inbreeding. Trust no one with the exception of family maybe?
 
t93 said:
Nope, it isn't the polygamy-it is the fact that it is against the law that can create the conditions that end up causing inbreeding. Trust no one with the exception of family maybe?
Click to expand...

True. Their distrust seems to go beyond concealing polygamy (since they block out all info of the modern world), but concealing illegality is probably the root motive.

Does anyone know? How do laws against polygamy work? Unless you legally marry more than one woman, what law have you broken?
 
I dated a guy long ago now whose sister was married very young. Their daughter had to have surgery to fix defects in her jaw and in her mouth. Her jaw was broken deliberately and reset. It was wired shut for several months while it healed. it turns out the Mother (sister to the guy i dated) and father were siblings.. the father of the guy I dated had an affair and had a child as a result.. he then married her not knowing it was his sister.. thus the divorce... the dad never owned up to to the affair or illegitimate son until confronted by the genetic evidence....funny thing is years later I discovered the son ( who i dated ) was cheating.. his ex girlfriend became pregnant and he refused to even consider that he was the father..apple doesnt fall far from the tree I guess.. he later did accept the baby as his but never pursued a paternity test even after he discovered she had slept with 2 others around the same time. (Best thing I ever did was to kick him to the curb after having heard he was cheating .. found out the rest later.)
 
Nova said:
My stepdaughter loves that show and pestered us until we sat down and watched the entire first season in time to catch the beginning of the second.

I am entirely hooked! Even though, for some reason, that show gives me weird dreams--not nightmares, exactly, and nothing violent, just really strange.

I think the "Compound" on the show is based on the community discussed in this thread. So your post isn't really off-topic.

Actually, I had some questions I wanted to ask Anngelique, but I didn't want her to think I associate polygamy with the Church of Latter Day Saints (since the show very clearly distinguishes between the two). In fact, Big Love has proved educational for me. I knew the Mormons had officially banned polygamy in 1890, but I didn't realize how much they disapprove of the practice until I saw the show.
Click to expand...
Feel free to ask me any question you want! I don't always know the answer but I know how to find the answer. :D
 
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