Category: Women’s Health

DES Diethylstilbestrol Awareness Video

Have you heard of DES ?

One of the first worldwide drug scandal is DES (Diethylstilbestrol) affecting millions of people in countries where the anti miscarriage drug was widely prescribed to pregnant women decades ago. You may have been exposed to DES without knowing it! The time bomb effects and associated health issues on three generations are still being ignored.

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NEW Global DES Health Survey gives a Voice to “Wonder Drug” Victims


DES Action Health History Survey

DES Action Australia-NSW Media Alert

Are you one of the 740,000 Australians at risk?

New global health survey gives a voice to those suffering effects of ‘wonder drug’ that devastated generations

Australians are being encouraged to take part in a landmark global health survey to help reveal the true impact of exposure to the anti-miscarriage drug, DES for DES Awareness Week (June 1 – 7). It is estimated up to 740,000 Australians are have been exposed to the drug, which was prescribed from 1940 – 1970 across the country.

“If you know, or even suspect that you, your mother or grandmother might have taken this drug – this is your chance to be part of a survey that will reveal what the real health impacts this drug has had on three generations of families,” says Carol Devine, DES Action Australia-NSW coordinator, herself a DES daughter.

The survey, by DES Action USA, will give Australians the opportunity to speak out about the health impact of their exposure, which includes cancer of the vagina, cervix or breast, birth complications and infertility.

Mrs Devine is hoping the survey will help answer many of the health questions plaguing the DES community.

“Our organisation has fielded hundreds of enquiries in response to DES Awareness Weeks from right across Australia and often we are asked if a particular health problem might be related to DES exposure and often the answer is – no one knows. By working with researchers in the USA we will be able to get some real answers, and know the proper healthcare to detect these conditions earlier and potentially save lives “says Devine.

Touted a “wonder drug” in its time, DES was prescribed to pregnant women between 1940 and 1971 (and sometimes beyond). It is now known to increase the risk of certain cancers and reproductive problems in those women prescribed DES and their children of that pregnancy.

Dr Jules Black, DES knowledgeable obstetrician and gynaecologist and medical spokesperson for the DES Action group in NSW, is urging women and men who may be DES exposed to be vigilant with their reproductive health – and take action.

“It is vital that people affected get the specialised health care they need. It is important that DES exposed women get the proper screenings to detect cancers early and women exposed to DES in the womb have “high risk” care for their pregnancies. Men exposed to DES in the womb, with increased risk of genital abnormalities, should do regular testicular self-checks and report anything unusual to a doctor, such as fertility or urogenital problems” he says.

June 15 is the deadline for this survey and Australians affected by DES can participate online at DES Action USA

There are many people affected by DES who may not be aware of the harm caused by DES and the health care they need. More information is available at DES Action Australia-NSW or by contacting them 02.98754820.

HEALTH CHECK LIST: If you tick ‘yes’ next to any of the following, ask your doctor about possible exposure to DES:

ü  Does your mother recall having previous miscarriages or being prescribed medications while pregnant? DES was most commonly prescribed to prevent miscarriage and for pregnancy complications such as bleeding. It was also known as “stilboestrol”.

ü  If unable to ask your mother, does your health history show a series of reproductive problems such as cancer, infertility, or miscarriages?

ü  Does your mother remember only being given “hormones” during pregnancy? It is worthwhile having a check-up, informing the doctor your mother was given hormones during pregnancy. Progesterone, another hormone, may have also been used to prevent miscarriage and research has shown no problems with this.

 -ENDS-

For more information, please contact:

DES Action Australia-NSW

DES Action USA

Diethylstilbestrol Clear Cell Adenocarcinoma Vaginal Cancer

Elevated risk for this type of cancer in DES Daughters as they age

DES and Cancer: the Never Ending Story

Diethylstilbestrol DES clear cell adenocarcinoma CCA vaginal cancer41 years ago, a connection between DES exposure and cancer in DES daughters was established.  Cases of Clear Cell Adenocarcinoma (CCA) of the vagina were diagnosed in an age group never before found to develop it. At the time the peak incidence of CCA in DES Daughters was in the late teens and early 20s. Most young women with CCA of the vagina have a history of prenatal exposure to diethylstilbestrol (DES). DES daughters were told by physicians that the risk was low when you reach your 30s and you can still read today on some websites that “if a DES daughter has not developed this cancer by age 30, she will not develop it”.

But today, DES daughters cancer fears are confirmed and justified as the findings and conclusions of a new report by CDC researchers suggest an elevated risk for this vaginal/cervical cancer in DES Daughters as they age.

When researchers first linked prenatal DES exposure to vaginal / cervical cancer in a small group of women, soon after, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) notified physicians throughout the U.S.A. that DES should not be prescribed to pregnant women (note that it wasn’t banned!). In Europe, the drug continued to be prescribed to pregnant women until 1978. So even though this report says “elevated risk among women born between 1947 and 1971 in the United States”, it should read “among all women born between 1947 and 1978 in countries where DES was prescribed”. In the United States alone it is estimated that five to 10 million people were exposed to DES between 1938 and 1971.

When will this stop?  The statement “The more I learn the less I know” really seems to apply to the DES tragedy. As we learn more about the devastating health effects of diethylstibestrol, we begin to become more aware of the limits of our knowledge regarding the long term effects not only for DES daughters but also DES sons and the DES 3rd generation (children of DES daughters and sons). DES truly is a never ending story!

Wherever you are stay safe and remind your GP that DES daughters need yearly Pap test and pelvic exam as well as regular health screening and adequate care!

More DES DiEthylStilbestrol Resources

DES Picnic Social Event in Australia

DES Action Australia: support and advocacy for those exposed to DES ; related hormones and endocrine disruptors

A few weeks ago DES Action Australia NSW in Sydney had a notice published in the RSVP section of the Sydney Morning Herald, inviting people affected by DES (diethylstibestrol) to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the DES cancer finding.  For this occasion Carole Devine, DES Action Australia NSW founder, is inviting the group members and associates, their friends and families to meet up for a DES picnic community event.

DES ACTION AUSTRALIA BIG PICNIC

DES Picnic Community Event in Australia

Where: Lilies on the Park (cafe), Bicentennial Park,
adjacent to Sydney Olympic Park, Homebush
When: Saturday November 26th – 11.30 am
Directions: Follow signs to Sydney Olympic Park.
On Australia Ave take first turn on right into Bicentennial Ave.
(Lattice clock tower at park entry).
Event attendees will then move on to a nearby picnic area.

If you’ve been affected by the DES drug and are anywhere near Sydney Olympic Park on Saturday 26th November, join your local DES community and bring along a picnic or buy food at Lilies Cafe. Just come along and look out for DES Action Australia identifying marker – yellow balloons!

Tea, coffee, juice will be provided and there will be an opportunity to hire bicycles at the park for AU$ 15 per hour.

For more information about the 40th Anniversary of the DES cancer finding watch this video featuring US researcher Dr Arthur Herbst.

To get an idea of interest and to help with catering, DES Action Australia NSW is asking participants to RSVP as soon as possible by emailing c_devine@bigpond.net.au or phoning 02 98754820. For more information about the great work they are doing, please visit DES Action Australia NSW blog.

HAPPY DES PICNIC EVERYONE!

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2011 DES Study Media Coverage

Covering DiEthylStilbestrol worldwide drug disaster

2011 DES study media coverage imageOver the past few days, there has been an unprecedented flurry of media attention on DES related health issues. This come after a long-awaited DES study was published on October 06th in the New England Journal of Medicine  (MEJM) which carefully documents elevated risk for women exposed to diethylstilbestrol (DES in short) for a host of medical problems including cancer, infertility, ectopic pregnancies, preterm labour, …. As yet, there has been no coverage from the UK press despite a call on UK journalists to make this information available to the public.

MEDIA COVERAGE IN ENGLISH

Banned pregnancy drug impacts fetal immune system – Jerusalem Post, Oct 12, 2011

DES prescribed to women in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s to prevent miscarriages, had serious, untoward effects in daughters of these women, including the development of a rare type of cancer of the uterus. There has been renewed interest in light of a recent report in the New England Journal of Medicine documenting lifelong health complications facing daughters of women given DES.

Diethylstilbestrol in utero affects immune system of the fetus – News Medical, Oct 11, 2011

Reproductive tissues are not the only targets of DES. The immune system is also known to be a target for estrogens. Dr. S. Ansar Ahmed, professor of immunology at Virginia Tech, led a National Institutes of Health study in the 1990s on how exposure to DES in utero affects the immune system later in life using a mouse model.

Suit Claims Drug Leads To Breast Cancer, Victim Speaks Out – 10TV.com, Oct 10, 2011

One woman spoke out on Monday after learning a drug she was given before she was born had life threatening consequences for her as an adult.

Risky pregnancy drug raised daughters’ cancer odds – News Channel 9 ABC, Oct 10, 2011

A drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study finds.

Pregnancy drug used decades ago raises cancer risk in offspring: study – South Asia Mail

A drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new U.S. federal study finds.

Anti-miscarriage drug victim backs campaign – TheMaitlandMecury.com.au, Oct 10, 2011

A woman given the anti-miscarriage drug diethylstilbestrol supports a call for a government-backed education campaign to highlight the dangers of exposure to the medication

Podcast 133: Over 50 years later, DES’ adverse effects continue
Oct 8, 2011 – Joe Elia – Audio interview with Dr Hoover, author of the NEJM DES Study

In a follow-up to the DES drug disaster, researchers (including one of the authors of the original reports in the early 1970s) have examined reproductive health in a large cohort of women exposed to DES in utero.  Their results were published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine, and they show that the health effects apparently continue beyond the reproductive years

Study adds to furor over pregnancy drug linked to daughter’s ailments – The Daily.com, Karen Keller – Oct 7, 2011

The DES breast cancer lawsuit, together with a bombshell New England Journal of Medicine article published yesterday — which suggests that infertility is twice as common and that breast cancer risk is nearly doubled in “DES daughters” — has ushered in a new awareness of the drug after decades when its lingering effects went under the radar.

Women Exposed to Synthetic Estrogen Diethylstilbestrol (DES) in the Womb Face Increased Cancer Risk, Study Finds
Science Daily – Oct 6, 2011 Hayden Donnell

A large study of the daughters of women who had been given DES, the first synthetic form of estrogen, during pregnancy has found that exposure to the drug while in the womb (in utero) is associated with many reproductive problems and an increased risk of certain cancers and pre-cancerous conditions.

Women exposed to diethylstilbestrol in the womb face increased cancer risk – EurekAlert (press release) – ‎Oct 5, 2011‎

Beginning in 1940, diethylstilbestrol, known as DES, was used clinically to prevent certain complications of pregnancy. In the 1950s, clinical studies showed DES was ineffective for this purpose. In the late 1960s, an unusual occurrence of a rare …

Women Exposed To Hormone In Utero Face Lifelong Health Problems – NPR (blog) – Richard Knox – ‎Oct 5, 2011‎

Back in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, doctors prescribed a hormone called diethylstilbestrol, or DES, to millions of pregnant women in the unfounded belief it could prevent miscarriages. Smack in the middle of this period, the deformed thalidomide babies …

Synthetic estrogen use leads to health problems
New Zealand Herald

Diethylstilbestrol was prescribed in the mistaken belief it could reduce pregnancy complications, but the daughters of the women who took it are still living with its effects …

Health Risks for Women Exposed to DES in Utero
Doctors Lounge – HealthDay News – ‎Oct 5, 2011‎

Women who were exposed in utero to diethylstilbestrol have a higher lifetime risk for several adverse health outcomes, according to a study published in the Oct. 6 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine. …

DES Exposure Linked to Lifetime Risk of Adverse Outcomes
Family Practice News Digital Network – Mary Ann Moon – ‎Oct 5, 2011‎

In-utero exposure to diethylstilbestrol was associated with a high lifetime risk of a broad spectrum of adverse outcomes in a follow-up study of patients now in their 40s, 50s, and 60s, according to a report in the Oct. 6 issue of the New England …

Effects of DES Exposure Follow Women for Decades
MedPage Today – Charles Bankhead – ‎Oct 5, 2011‎

Explain that the teratogenic effects of diethylstilbestrol have continued to exact a heavy toll throughout the lifetime of women who were exposed to the drug in utero. Point out that DES-exposed women …

Pregnancy Drug is Causing Grown Daughters to Face Risk of Cancer, Infertility – AboutLawsuits.com

The daughters of women given diethylstilbestrol (DES), a drug commonly used decades ago to prevent miscarriages and birth defects, are showing high rates of breast cancer and infertility problems, according to recent research. …

DES daughters (and bummmer, I’m one) have some raised health risks – Los Angeles Times – ‎Oct 5, 2011‎

Millions of women alive today were exposed to a chemical called DES – diethylstilbestrol – in their mother’s uterus. The chemical, an early synthetic estrogen, was administered to some pregnant women before 1971 to help reduce risk of miscarriages and …

Prenatal exposure to synthetic estrogen ups cancer risk in daughters – TruthDive

Washington, Sept 06 (ANI): Daughters of women who took a synthetic estrogen called diethylstilbestrol (DES) while pregnant decades ago are now facing a greater chance of being infertile and developing cancer, according to a large study by the National …

Pregnancy drug found to cause fertility woes, cancers
Vancouver Sun

The study in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine examines the daughters of females exposed in the womb to diethylstilbestrol (DES), which was prescribed in the mistaken belief it could reduce certain complications of pregnancy. …

Anti-miscarriage drug DES causes multi-generational health problems – Macleans.ca

by macleans.ca on Thursday, October 6, 2011 12:56pm – 0 Comments DES (or diethylstilbestrol), an anti-miscarriage drug widely used between 1940 and 1970, has been linked to health problems—including breast cancer, infertility, difficult pregnancies and …

“DES” increases women infertility and cancers
Empowered News

DES or diethylstilbestrol have been prescribed to pregnant women for the belief that it will reduce complications during pregnancy. The National Cancer Institute researchers and scientists have been following about 6500 women including those exposed to …

Health Woes Still Strike Women Exposed to Banned Pregnancy Drug – U.S. News & World Report – ‎Oct 5, 2011‎

Women whose mothers were given the drug diethylstilbestrol (DES) during pregnancy are at increased risk for fertility problems and cancer as they age, new research shows. This study from the US National Cancer …

DES cancer link sparks campaign call
Sydney Morning Herald – ‎Oct 5, 2011‎

A study published by the New England Journal of Medicine on Thursday found daughters of women who took diethylstilbestrol (DES) while pregnant face a greater chance of being infertile and developing a rare vaginal cancer. …

DES linked to cancer, infertility
Sydney Morning Herald – ‎Oct 5, 2011‎

A study appearing in Thursday’s New England Journal of Medicine examines women exposed in the womb to diethylstilbestrol (DES), which was prescribed in the mistaken belief it could reduce certain complications of pregnancy. Researchers at the National …

In Utero DES Exposure Hurt Daughters’ Health
CalorieLab Calorie Counter News – ‎Oct 5, 2011‎

A comprehensive study looking at the drug diethylstilbestrol (DES) that was widely used by pregnant women in Europe and the United States to prevent problems in pregnancy such as miscarriage and premature birth from the 1940s until the 1960s suggests …

Fake Hormone For Pregnant Women Causes Real Cancer In Their Daughters – Jezebel

The Associated Press reports that the drug, an artificial form of estrogen called DES (diethylstilbestrol), was often prescribed to pregnant women in pill or cream form between 1940 and 1960. When it was discovered that the teenage daughters of women …

DES Daughters: Banned Pregnancy Drug Linked to Infertility, Prematurity and Cancer – TIME – Bonnie Rochman

That drug was DES, or diethylstilbestrol, which was widely prescribed in the US beginning in 1940 to help stave off miscarriage — until 1971, when the US Food and Drug Administration decided that the drug doesn’t work and that it causes cancer. …

Risky pregnancy drug raised daughters’ cancer odds
Coshocton Tribune

Diethylstilbestrol, or DES, widely was used in the United States, Europe and elsewhere from the 1940s through the 1960s to prevent miscarriage, premature birth, bleeding and other problems. Many companies made it as pills and creams. …

Moms who took miscarriage drug DES have daughters with higher risk for breast … – New York Daily News

DES, or diethylstilbestrol, was widely used in the United States, Europe and elsewhere from the 1940s through the 1960s to prevent miscarriage, premature birth, bleeding and other problems. Many companies made and sold it as pills, creams and other …

Prenatal exposure to synthetic estrogen ups cancer risk in daughters – BioScholar News

Daughters of women who took a synthetic estrogen called diethylstilbestrol (DES) while pregnant decades ago are now facing a greater chance of being infertile and developing cancer, according to a large study by the National Cancer Institute in the …

Pregnancy drug raised daughters’cancer odds
Post-Tribune – Marilynn Marchione – ‎Oct 5, 2011‎

Risks for other health problems vary. DES, or diethylstilbestrol, was widely used in the United States, Europe and elsewhere from the 1940s through the 1960s to prevent miscarriage, premature birth, bleeding and other problems.

Pregnancy drug raised daughters’ cancer odds
Salt Lake Tribune – Marilynn Marchione – ‎Oct 5, 2011‎

AP A drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer and other health problems that are showing up now, a new federal study …

Pregnancy Drug proving a risk for children – WREG

Millions of women in the 1940s, 50s, and 60s who wanted to make sure they had safe pregnancies, took a drug called DES. The women likely didn`t know it then, but that drug came with side effects that are surfacing 50 plus years later in their children. …

Today’s Top Medical Stories for October 6, 2011
OzarksFirst.com – ‎Oct 6, 2011‎

Millions of women exposed to the first synthetic form of estrogen are at risk of cancer . A National Institutes of Health study followed daughters of pregnant women given synthetic estrogen called DES from the 1940’s to the 1970s. …

Drugs women took years ago may affect daughters
WNDU-TV

A drug millions of pregnant women took decades ago may increase health risks among their daughters. An estimated four million Americans were exposed to DES, a synthetic estrogen prescribed to prevent miscarriages and pregnancy complications, …

Risky pregnancy drug raised daughters’ cancer odds
KTUU – ‎Oct 5, 2011‎

A new federal study finds that a drug that millions of pregnant women took decades ago to prevent miscarriage and complications has put their daughters at higher risk for breast cancer. Cancer and other health problems are showing …

Drug To Prevent Miscarriage Increases Odds for Breast Cancer
Heal Blog (blog) – ‎Oct 5, 2011

by Art Writ, October 6th, 2011 Decades ago, women have taken a certain drug that lessens the risk of miscarriage. However, just recently, researchers have found out that the complications and side effects of this drug has placed their daughters at …

MEDIA COVERAGE IN FRENCH

L’exposition fœtale au Distilbène accroît les risques de certains cancers – Le Monde – ‎6 oct. 2011‎

Les femmes exposées dans le ventre de leur mère au Distilbène, premier œstrogène de synthèse utilisé dès 1940, souffrent de nombreux problèmes de reproduction et sont soumises à un net accroissement du risque de certains cancers, selon une vaste étude …

Distilbène : de nouveaux risques de cancers identifiés
Magic Maman – ‎6 oct. 2011‎

Une étude menée par les chercheurs de l’Institut National du Cancer américain publiée aujourd’hui dans le New England Journal of Medecine révèle de nouveaux effets négatifs liés à l’exposition intra-utérine au distilbène. En cause : des risques accrus …

Les femmes exposées au Distilbène au stade foetal ont plus de problèmes de santé – Maxisciences – ‎6 oct. 2011‎

Une étude menée par des chercheurs de l’Institut national américain du cancer (NCI) montre que des femmes exposées au stade fœtal au Distilbène, un œstrogène de synthèse, souffrent aujourd’hui de problèmes de reproduction et sont davantage sujettes à …

Filles du Distilbène : un risque accru de cancers
Terrafemina – ‎6 oct. 2011‎

Les résultats d’une vaste étude publiée aujourd’hui dans le New England of Medicine révèlent que les femmes exposées au Distilbène dans le ventre de leur mère sont soumises à un risque accru de cancer. Entre 1948 et 1976, 200 000 femmes ont été …

Reproductive tissues are not the only targets of DES. The immune system is also known to be a target for estrogens. Dr. S. Ansar Ahmed, professor of immunology at Virginia Tech, led a National Institutes of Health study in the 1990s on how exposure to DES in utero affects the immune system later in life using a mouse model.

More DES DiEthylStilbestrol Resources
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