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Witness History: DES Daughters

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DES Daughters

08/02/2021 GMT

BBC World Service - Witness History, DES Daughters

A medical scandal which affected millions of women around the world

A medical scandal which affected millions of women around the world.

DES or Diethylstilbestrol was a form of synthetic estrogen developed in the 1930s, regularly prescribed to pregnant women to prevent miscarriage. But in the 1960s it was discovered that not only did it not prevent miscarriage, it also had dangerous side effects for the daughters of the women who had taken it while pregnant – including reproductive problems and rare gynaecological cancers. Millions of women were exposed all over the world. Lucy Burns speaks to mother and daughter Linda and Katie Greenebaum about their experiences of DES.

This programme was made with the help of DES Action in the USA. www.DESAction.org 

Photo: black and white image of smiling baby (H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock/Getty Images)

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