A Labour MP has apologised after saying inbreeding may be partly to blame for rise in cases of diabetes in his Norfolk constituency.
Inter-family relationships could have led to a sharing of a gene linked to the condition, said former science lecturer Ian Gibson.
A consultant at a local hospital said the remarks were "disgraceful".
That prompted an apology from Mr Gibson, who said he had never meant to cause any offence.
In an interview with BBC Radio Norfolk on Thursday, Norwich North MP Mr Gibson said there could be genetic reasons for the illness.
"In a county where it's from way back in the past there have been smaller numbers of people, localised in small areas there may be some degree of familiarity, family relationships you know in terms of brothers and other families with the same name and so on," he said.
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