They're the butt of jokes and the target of stern laws. Now a study shows cousins run few risks in mating.

    Paul had taken his cousin Donna on a long trek through a remote part of Colombia. They had missed the day's meals and had only a jar of pickled vegetables and a bottle of drinks. So they repaired to hammocks strung up under the moonlight--and began a love story that has lasted 14 years and produced two chidren.

    "I was shocked that I had fallen in love with my first cousin and surprised that this miracle had fallen on me," says Paul. " My only real concern was the medical issue."

    Paul, a graduate student in New York City, and Donna, a financial adviser, are just two in a long, flourishing line of kissin' first cousins. Charles Darwin wed his cousin Emma and spawned 10 children, including four brilliant scientists. Albert Einstein' s second wife Elsa was his first cousin. Queen Victoria said" I do" to hers. So have millions worldwide. In parts of Saudi Arabia, 39％ of all marriages are between first cousins.

    In the U.S., though, the practice bears a stigma of inbreeding just this side of incest. The taboo is not only social but legislative; 24 states ban the marriage of first cousins: five others allow it only if the couple is unable to bear children. A major reason for this ban is the belief that kids of first cousins are tragically susceptible to serious congenital illnesses.

    That view may have to change. A comprehensive study published recently in the Journal of Genetic Counseling indicates such children run an only slightly higher risk of significant genetic disorders like congenital heart defects--about two percentage points above the average 3％ to 4％. Says the study's lead author, Robin Bennett, president-elect of the National Society of Genetic Counselors, which funded the study: "Aside from a thorough medical family history, there is no need to offer any genetic testing on the basis of consanguinity alone".

    Publication of the study will do more than tweak public awareness; it will enlighten doctors who have urged cousin couples not to have children."Just this week," says Bennett， "I saw a 23-year-old woman who had had a tubal ligation because her parents were cousins and her doctor told her she shouldn' t have children." The study cites the case of" Amy," who had been in a relationship with her cousin for two years when, in 1996, she became pregnant. Her doctor suggested an abortion, and after a fruitless search for more information, she had the procedure. This week Amy wrote to the cousincouples.com website that she planned to get many copies of the report--"one that I will personally deliver to my ex-gynecologist."

    The American proscription against cousin marriages grew in the 19th century as wilderness settlers tried to distinguish themselves from the "savage" Indians, says Martin, author of the book Forbidden Relatives: The American Myth of Cousin Marriage. "The truth is that Europeans were marrying their cousins and Native Americans were not."

    And doesn' t God have stern words on the subject? Christie Smith, 37, a Nevada writer, says she felt guilty when she fell in love with her first cousin' s son Mark. "I was trying so hard to convince myself not to have these feelings," she recalls, "that I went to the Bible looking for confirmation that it was　And what I found was the exact opposite: support for cousin marriages." The patriarch Jacob married two of his first cousins, Rachel and Leah.(The Roman Catholic Church has opposed cousin marriages for more than a millennium but gives dispensation to couples considered worthy.) Smith married Mark in 1999; this year she founded a group called CUDDLE- Cousins United to Defeat Discriminating Laws through Education. wrong.

    As for Paul and Donna, they are doing fine. Their son, 9, and daughter, 8, are well adjusted and academically gifted. Still, the parents are protective of their family secret. (They declined to have their real names used for this story.) " When our kids started school here," says Donna, " I told them, ' You don' t have to hide this from anyone. But you don' t need to go advertising it." The medical ban is lifted; the social stain may take longer to disappear.

     他們是眾人取笑的對象和法律嚴厲制裁的目標。現(xiàn)在一項研究表明近親聯(lián)姻并無妨。

    保羅帶領表妹唐娜出發(fā)去哥倫比亞的一個偏遠地區(qū)徒步旅行。他們白天沒有趕上吃正餐，現(xiàn)在只有一罐泡菜，一瓶飲料。無奈之下，只能在月光下搭起了吊床，雙雙就寢，從而開始了一個已持續(xù)14年，擁有兩個子女的愛情故事。

    保羅說：“我非常驚訝自己竟會愛上表妹，這一奇跡會發(fā)生在自己身上簡直是不可思議。我惟一擔心的是從醫(yī)學角度看此事會產(chǎn)生的問題。”

    保羅是紐約市的一名研究生，而唐娜是一名金融顧問。他們倆僅僅是無數(shù)結為夫妻的表兄妹中的一對。查爾斯·達爾文與其表妹愛瑪結合，養(yǎng)育了10個子女，其中有四位杰出的科學家。阿爾伯特·愛因斯坦與他的第二任妻子埃爾薩是表親。維多利亞女王曾在婚禮上對她的表哥說：“我愿意”。全世界有數(shù)以百萬計說過“我愿意”的新人有血緣關系。在沙特阿拉伯，有39％的婚姻發(fā)生在有親族關系的男女之間。

    然而在美國，同宗結親的做法仍帶有近親繁殖的恥辱，并有亂倫之嫌。這種禁忌不僅是社會習俗方面的，而且有來自立法機關的：有24個州禁止近親結婚；其他5 個州只有在一對夫妻不育的條件下才許可。頒布此禁令的一個主要原因是人們相信近親結婚易導致下一代不幸地患上嚴重的先天性疾病。

    這種觀點可能必須改變。最近發(fā)表在《遺傳學咨詢》雜志上的一份綜合性研究表明近親婚姻所生的小孩患上主要遺傳性疾病如先天性心臟缺陷的可能性只比一般小孩略高--大約比平均的3％到4％高出兩個百分點。全國遺傳學顧問協(xié)會為此項研究提供了資金。羅賓·貝內(nèi)特是此項研究的主要作者，也是該協(xié)會已當選、但尚未就職的主席。據(jù)他說，“除了需要一份詳盡的家庭病史之外，沒有必要僅根據(jù)有血緣關系這一條理由就進行任何的基因測試。”

    此項研究的公開發(fā)表將不僅會扭轉公眾對這個問題的認識，它還將促使那些力勸近親夫妻不要生育的醫(yī)生擺脫偏見。貝內(nèi)特說：“就在本周，我遇見一位23歲的婦女，她剛做過輸卵管結扎手術。原因是她的父母屬近親結婚，她的醫(yī)生告訴她不應該生育孩子。” 研究報告中還引用了有關“艾米”的例子。她曾與表兄保持了兩年的婚姻關系。1996年，她懷孕了。她的醫(yī)生建議流產(chǎn)。在四處咨詢無果的情況下，她遵從了醫(yī)生的建議。這一周，艾米寫信給近親夫妻網(wǎng)站說她打算多準備幾份報告的復印本，并將親自送一份給她從前的婦科醫(yī)生。

    美國人對近親婚姻的排斥源自19世紀，原因是早期的拓荒者試圖將自己同“原始的”印第安人區(qū)分開。《違禁姻親--美國近親結婚之謎》一書的作者馬丁說：“真實的情況是歐洲人當時在近親通婚，而印第安人卻沒有。”

    上帝對此是否有嚴厲的譴責呢？一個來自內(nèi)華達州的37歲作家克里斯蒂·史密斯說當她愛上表兄的兒子馬克時她自感有罪。她回憶說：“我努力地說服自己不要有這種情感，所以我求助于圣經(jīng)，希望證實這是錯誤的。但是我發(fā)現(xiàn)了正好相反的例證。”族長雅各布娶了他的兩個表妹雷切兒和莉爾。（羅馬教會1000多年以來一直反對近親結婚，但是對于它認為是相配的姻緣卻給予特許。）史密斯于1999年與馬克結婚；今年她創(chuàng)立了一個名為“通過教育手段改變近親婚姻歧視法”的組織。

    至于保羅和唐娜，正過著美滿的生活。他們9歲的兒子與8歲的女兒身心健康，學業(yè)優(yōu)異。然而，作為父母，他們對自己的秘密是守口如瓶（他們要求本文隱去其真實姓名）。唐娜說：“當我們的孩子開始上學時，我告訴他們：‘你們沒有必要刻意對他人隱瞞什么，但也沒有必要到處去大肆宣揚。’”從醫(yī)學角度講，禁令是解除了；但要消除社會上人們對近親姻緣的歧視還需要更長的時間。