I just lost another friend of mine to ovarian cancer. She was also a DES Daughter and we had shared and commiserated for many years. DES continues to steal away women and now men whose mothers took DES to maintain problem pregnancies.
Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a synthetic hormone that was given to women from 1938 to 1971 who had issues with pregnancy and infertility. The children of those women run a high risk of reproductive tract cancer. When I was growing up, they talked about the DES daughters, but now they have found that the sons are also affected, as are third-generation. There may even be some effects in the fourth generation. The mothers who took it are not safe, either. They run an enhanced risk of breast cancer (like 2 1/2 times higher). I lost my own mother in 1997 to brain cancer, but it began with breast cancer before spreading and her oncologist has said DES was probably a major factor.
Not Just A Human Thing
The worst part of this whole scenario is that even once they found out how bad the effects were from the drug, they continued to inject it into farm animals to encourage them to eat more so there would be more meat. I worked in a feedlot in the late 70′s in Arizona where they regularly gave it as an injection until the cows reached 700 pounds then switched to a different one after that, and all so the cows would be heavier when slaughtered so the people who invested in them got more money. And I’ve heard it was given as late as the 90′s! The results of this hormone are so far reaching, that there have now been correlations discovered between obesity and sterility in humans who ate the DES enhanced foods! Watch for an update and I’ll provide the links to the studies.
No known medical test (such as blood, urine or skin analysis) has been developed that can detect DES exposure. However, the Interactive DES Self-Assessment Guide is designed to help you assess whether you might have been exposed to DES between 1938 and 1971. Just click on the graphic above to be taken to the assessment site.
Go Ask Your Mother
I encourage you all to speak to your mothers, your doctors and your friends. Have your mothers get their pregnancy records because in the early days, women didn’t question prescriptions and may have never known they were given this potentially deadly drug that has had deeper effects than even Thalidomide!
