Swiss government is considering legalizing sex between family members

[Reasonable]

ramses01 said:

Reasonable said:

Morally I couldn't care less - genetically it's bad news so I'd actually object on those grounds: bad for the species.

It is not necessarily bad news genetically either.  That would depend on the genetic fitness of adults in question.  For highly fit adults, genetics would actually favor such a union over a randomly selected mate.

Nope, that's not correct.  If you start inbreeding with two perfect specimens then all seems fine at first, but if inbreeding continues (the issue is multi-generational inbreeding) then the end result is always negative.  Genetically, for complex animals you need an intermingling gene pool.  Too much in-breeding and you're going to see problems.

The odds are probably low, but the problem with incest is that if it were to continue over a number of generations - i.e. the son of a brother/sister with his sister and so on -  it will negatively impact future generations.

Incest tends to be instinctively frowned on for a reason - and the other issue I see is that it is very probable children of known incest (and the couples) would be discriminated against and receive abuse.  Not that this alone is a reason to avoid it, but it needs to be bourne in mind.