The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #107477   Message #2228320
Posted By: katlaughing
04-Jan-08 - 11:57 AM
Thread Name: BS: Ethical unethical? Research on twins
Subject: RE: BS: Ethical unethical? Research on twins
(I had first heard of this on NPR a few weeks ago. They do have their own website, also, fwiw.) My sisters are identical twins, as are my grandsons. I cannot imagine any of them living without knowing the other. Things to note from the article:

Neither set of adoptive parents knew the babies were part of a study or that they had been born twins. and,

it is the records of the study, not the adoption, which are sealed until 2066: And the records of the study are sealed until 2066. Also, I didn't find anything which said their mother was in psychiatric care when she gave birth, just that the twins have learnt that their birth mother did spend part of her life in psychiatric care.

When I was a teen, I met a woman who had twins. She and her husband split and decided to raise their daughters apart from one another, one child to each parent. The girls knew one another but were not raised as twins at all and they were identical. It seemed such a foreign concept to me then, it still does. I would be interested to know how they turned out, but I don't even remember their names. In their case a judge would have had to agree to the arrangement. I found the whole thing appalling in light of my growing up with my sisters.

As far as I am concerned, it is wrong to have done this. One of things which really bothers me about it is it wasn't that long ago. My son was born two years before these women. Think about it..in our recent lifetimes this took place.