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Mongolian researchers warn of danger of inbreeding among population

Xinhua, December 22, 2016 Adjust font size:

Gene pool and other health issues of the population, including inbreeding, are more dangerous than economic issues, Mongolian researchers said.

The number of children born with congenital birth defects has been increasing every year, said recently Enkhmaa Enkheem, a researcher from the Strategic Research Institute under the Mongolian National Security Council.

She emphasized that there were no rural provinces without such a case.

Last year, Mongolian health experts also warned the Mongolian public of health problems out of inbreeding, such as reduced intellectual capability, cleft lips and palate defects.

The researcher said that 689 children with the defects were born between 2005 and 2009, and the figure increased to 1,280 between 2014 and 2015.

Under the guidance of the former Soviet Union, Mongolia has since 1925 abandoned its practice of keeping family records which safeguarded inbreeding of population through the use of clan names.

Currently, about 70 percent of university and college students stay in urban areas, including the capital city of Ulan Bator, where more and more girls want to live, instead of rural areas.

For those in remote rural provinces, it has become increasingly harder for men to find wives as most girls and women have gone to cities.

Another factor for the inbreeding is that the inland country merely has a total population of some 3 million that scatter around a vast tract of territory, which makes it hard for young people to meet with each other and find suitable match.

Since early 2000, the Mongolian government has tried to restore use of old clan name and supported keeping of family records. However, so far, this has proven less effective. Many people don't know their true clan name and therefore, made up new clan names.

Meanwhile, some other experts said that the birth of a high number of children with congenital defects is related with a high level of alcoholism and other unhealthy lifestyle practices of the parents.

Mongolia's National Security Council is the country's top national security body, which is composed of top leaders, including the president, prime minister and parliament speaker. Endi