Why Incest Is So Dangerous

Reproduction is the key to survival and is the most important part of human evolution. The male brain is designed to have sexual intercourse with as many female counterparts as possible to pass on their genes to the next generation of offspring. However, sometimes things go terribly wrong. Sometimes, it is condoned and even encouraged to reproduce and marry within the family. A lot of families that have arranged marriages are marrying within the family, mostly in under educated populations. This poses serious risks to offspring to come, as explicated in an online article by Eliza Lenz.

 

Incest is a problem wall to wall. One of the issues with inbreeding is that recessive genes are more likely to be expressed in offspring since both partners are likely to have the same recessive traits. "Conditions that are inherited through recessive genes, including cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, and albinism—increases significantly"(Lenz, 2014). King tut was inbred as well. He shows symptoms of someone that is inbred. He was described as weak, fragile, and often sickly (Bates, 2010). This is because there are more possibilities of recessive genes in play. The reason such genes are recessive is because they are avoided in human reproduction, which is why incest is not only biologically bad for humans, but looked at as immoral.

 Even plants have methods of stopping incest. Interestingly enough, they are able to identify gametes that are too genetically similar to themselves, using S-RNase (destroys RNA) if the gamete is too similar (Lenz, 2014). Even plants have defense mechanisms against incest. Humans should be aware of how dangerous interbreeding is and avoid it, if its possible to.

References

Bates, C. (2010). King Tutankhamun 'was an inbred club-footed king who died from a broken leg'. Retrieved from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1251696/King-Tutankhamun-inbred-club-footed-king-died-broken-leg.html

Lenz, E. (2014, May). 10 Incendiary Facts About Incest. Retrieved from http://listverse.com/2014/05/22/10-incendiary-facts-about-incest/