RE: incest myths

This is a large part of the perceived problem, the other part is that each human being has a small chance of carrying some form of gametic (in egg, or sperm) mutation which as a result has a 50% chance of being passed to their offspring. This is the biggest problem with inbreeding, and as Markaba has stated it CAN happen.

The problem with this arises when you look at the results of past incestuous relationships and note the very insignificant rise in deformities and syndromes that arise. I would go out on a limb and say that you are at more of a risk of having a 'broken' child if you and your partner both work in heavy industry than you would have with even a very close first generation incestuous relationship.

Saying this, the issue is compounding. So if your child were to have kids with her brother/sister/whatever the risk would be higher than generation 1. Historically speaking the large rise in problems came after 10 or 12 generations of close interbreeding. This would have been easily remedied if there was even 1 or 2 additions to the genetic pool.

Lambda