Born under X, two twins find their sister 20 years later thanks to a DNA test

It’s a pretty tale, due to genetics and the sharing of data reported to us today by Le Parisien. At the end of 2022, two French twins born in 1999 discovered the existence of another sister by practicing a recreational DNA test which proposes to discover her ethnic origins.

“38% common DNA, estimated relationship: sister”

In 1999, Claire and Laura, born under X are adopted at the age of two months in a family of Seine et Marne. They live a happy existence with adoptive parents who make no secret of their birth and support them in their quest for their origins. But the consultation of the files of the hospital of birth from their adolescence does not give anything, and the young women leave this quest behind them.

Later, at the age of 20, one of the sisters applied to the CNAOP (national center for access to protected origins) and learned that another recognized child existed at the time of their birth. She will not dig further on this track, not seeking to meet her biological parents.

But it’s an advertisement that changes everything in September 2022: a very well-known DNA testing brand is launching a promotion. Claire lets herself be tempted, initially to find out her ethnic origins. The message she receives overwhelms her: “38% common DNA, estimated relationship: sister”. She thus learns that she has 38% of common DNA with another user, most likely her sister.

A sister who lives only 30 minutes away…

The young woman only has a nickname, an age group, but begins research by going through social networks. The shock materializes: Claire falls on a face that looks like her, one year older. She then makes contact with her possible “sister”. And the testimonies overlap: Marie Anne, is a year older, but has the same story: a birth under X, and a first placement, in the same foster family as her sisters. Another major discovery: she only lives about thirty minutes from her little sisters.

Today the three young women are in constant contact and try to catch up with time, more than 20 years after their births. They also want to learn more with the help of a geneticist,”but it’s very complicated today“.

Tests banned in Europe since January 2023

Claire, Laura and Marie Anne also benefited from a luck factor: 3 months after their DNA test, shipping them to Europe became strictly prohibited.

If you live in Europe, despite the recurring advertisements on the Internet and social networks, ordering a DNA test on the Internet is prohibited even if the company that performs it is based in a European country where this is authorized. In fact, since January 2023, the two giants of recreational DNA tests MyHeritage and 23andme have ceased their shipments to Europe.

A decision that is based more on data protection than on a lack of reliability: “The business model of these companies is based on collecting your genetic data which is then reused. It means that we completely lose control of it”explained lawyer Nathalie Devillier, expert in cybercrime, on TF1 last year.

But concretely, if this decision puts a stop to recreational DNA tests, it is indeed the associations of people born under X who are the first victims. They see their hope of finding their family disappear or become a little more complicated.