Abstract
Nature vs Nurture: A Fraudulent Adoptive Study
Author(s): Dolores Malaspina* and Ezequiel LafontA clandestine study of genes and the environment was putatively conducted by the Louise Wise Adoption Agency. Under the guidance of one (or two) prominent psychiatrists, identical twins were secretly placed in separate homes as singleton births and longitudinally followed in their adoptive homes, unbeknownst to them or their adoptive parents. This was described as a “child development study” but no informed consent was provided by the biological mother or adopting parents or the adoptees themselves as participants in human research. Less attention has been directed to the six-month placement in “foster care” for twin infants as well as singletons, during which some testing or evaluation occurred, where the agency concealed severe mental illness in the biological parents. The lead researchers, deeply aware of the genetic research underpinning the Nazi’s murder of a quarter of a million persons with severe mental illness, pursued this work in a time when environmental factors were increasingly implicated as causing schizophrenia in the US. These facts plausibly support an additional research agenda on the heritability and early manifestations of psychosis as inherited from a biological relative. This review further develops information on another potential study being conducted by the Louise Wise Agency. This is an opportunity to refocus attention on the theories and methods of this controversial study and a lesson for our times.