Inter-family marriages within the Bradford Asian community are contributing to the rising number of disabled children in the city, according to health experts.

One doctor claims that babies born to married first cousins are at least three times more likely to suffer rare genetic defects which can lead to severe disability.

And today he called for more education on the issue - in an effort to prevent heartbreak for families.

His call has been supported by Bary Malik, of Asian Disability Action Awareness, and Manoj Joshi, chairman of Bradford's Health and Equality Action Team.

Mr Malik said a lack of awareness was the major problem.

The district has more than twice the average number of deaf children in the country and higher incidents of youngsters of all sectors of the community suffering from cerebral palsy.

And disabled children in Bradford account for about seven per cent of young people in the UK who are diagnosed with progressive disorders which affect the brain.

Local disability campaigners are now stressing the need for education on the issue.

Consultant paediatrician Dr Paul Gorham, from Dewsbury & District Hospital, said: "This is a very sensitive issue which needs to be discussed in the community. Marrying first cousins increases the risk of producing children with recessive disorders.

"I'm getting increasingly concerned that we should be doing more to educate the public and the young about these increases. I am seeing parents of affected children who have no idea that they had an increased risk of producing children with these disorders.

"Normally, defective recessive genes in one parent - and people of all ethnic backgrounds have between five and ten - have no effect on children because the partner's dominant, healthy genes override them.

"But parents who marry first cousins are more likely to share identical recessive genes which can result in their children being disabled by metabolic disorders which affect the body's chemistry."

One common disorder is the blood abnormality thalassaemia which can affect growth and cause some deafness.

Leeds-based clinical geneticist Dr Geoffrey Woods, who runs specialist clinics for families in Bradford, says about three-quarters of his patients are from an Asian background.

He said: "Bradford has more metabolic disorders than anywhere else in the country.

"There's a condition which leads to smaller brains than normal and there are about five or six cases of this in the Caucasian population in Yorkshire compared to 30 from Asian families.

"There is a view that this is an imperialist British view, putting the Asians down. But we need to work towards trying to tell who are the carriers in a family."

Dr Woods works with three Asian genetics counsellors and is working with communities to educate people in the area.

Bary Malik said by 2011 more than half of Bradford's disabled children will be of Asian origin and that lack of awareness was the major problem.

He said. "It is a taboo subject. Asian people don't like others to know they've got a disabled child in the house and often there's a mistrust of social workers - they think they're going to take their children away from them."

Manoj Joshi said: "It is a big problem in the Asian community and one that requires a lot of resources. We are trying to educate people and prevention is what we are aiming for."

"It's a cultural thing. People think that by marrying someone in their family they are forging strong family links but they don't realise that in the future the families could be deformed."

Dr Dee Kyle, Director of Public Health, said: "Genetic causes of disease are not confined to any one community within Bradford. However some communities do have higher rates of some diseases than others, such as haemoglobinopathies, where faulty haemoglobin production means children can suffer from severe anaemia."

She added that actions proposed in Bradford's Health Improvement Programme included improved preventative and treatment services targeted at communities and couples in parts of the districts where needs were greatest.

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