Ann Cryer of the ruling Labour Party said British Pakistanis who marry first cousins are 'in denial' about the risk of birth defects, and community leaders should point out the risks.

'The price to pay is often in either babies being born dead, babies being born very early and babies being born with very severe genetically-transmitted disorders,' she told BBC radio.

'This is a blight on that community.' Research done by the BBC in 2005 showed that people of Pakistani origin account for 3.4 per cent of British births but 30 per cent of babies with genetic defects known as recessive disorders.

Marriages between first cousins are legal in Britain and more common in the British Pakistani than the wider population.

On Sunday, environment minister Phil Woolas told the Sunday Times newspaper that there was a 'duty' to raise the issue.

Some Muslim groups expressed concern over the way the issue was being presented at a time when integration of Muslim communities in Britain has been a divisive issue.

The Archbishop of Canterbury has faced heavy criticism in recent days after saying that the introduction of aspects of Islamic sharia law in Britain was unavoidable.

'This is a very sensitive case and there are ways of addressing this without having to basically scaremonger and create more hate than there already is,' said Raza Nadim, spokesman for the Muslim Public Affairs Committee.

But the Muslim Council of Britain, an umbrella group for British Muslim organisations, said it was a legitimate topic.

'This is a genuine medical issue, so I think to describe it as Islamophobic and as a race question is over the top,' spokesman Inayat Bunglawala told Reuters.

Professor Steve Jones, a geneticist at University College London, said the problem should not be overblown.

Prof Jones said that first cousin marriages double the risk of having children who will die or face disability, but child mortality is so low nowadays that such risks are negligible.

He said smoking or drinking alcohol during pregnancy can be far more harmful to unborn babies.

'There's a lot of false information or false consciousness out there in the public about the horrors of cousin marriage and that actually isn't true, you've got to put it into context with all the other things that kill children off.'

Prof Jones noted that many women are having children later in life, another cultural factor that raises the risk of genetic defects. -- REUTERS