NPR : Syrian Village Hobbled by Years of Inbreeding

Deep in the northern Syrian countryside lies a tiny village with a very big problem. For more than 100 years, it has been common practice for the village of Kesten’s 5,000 inhabitants to intermarry. The tradition of marriage between first cousins in the Arab world is a way to keep property and businesses in the family. But it also keeps family in the family, and now up to 800 children in this impoverished village are living with extreme genetic defects. One schoolteacher in Kesten is taking the unprecedented step of asking the outside world for help.

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