From the 1940s up to 1971 and sometimes beyond in Australia, doctors prescribed the hormone drug diethylstilboestrol, also known as “stilboestrol” or DES for short, and the consequences are still being felt today.
Diethylstilboestrol was a synthetic oestrogen given to Australian women during pregnancy as an anti-miscarriage drug. It was also used for other treatments, including as a lactation suppressant to stop breast milk and for menstrual symptoms.
Women given DES during pregnancy are called DES mothers, with their daughters and sons of that pregnancy being known as DES daughters and DES sons respectively.
In 1971, this commonly prescribed medication was found to be a carcinogen, causing cancer in DES daughters and DES mothers. Later, it was found to cause these daughters reproductive abnormalities and fertility issues. With the drug being actively administered over decades, the damage has severely impacted thousands of Australians.
Some of the risks to DES daughters are vaginal, cervical, and breast cancers, along with structural abnormalities of their reproductive organs. DES sons are at an increased risk of hypospadias, a birth defect where the urethra is not at the tip of the penis, and testicular issues. There is now concern for effects on subsequent generations.
Organisations around the world are bringing light to the issue. Carol Devine, a DES daughter herself, opened a related organisation, DES Action NSW to the American initiative DES Action USA.
A concerning component of the history of DES in Australia, according to Carol Devine, is that many sufferers have not been made aware they have been impacted, and they may need special preventive healthcare. Doctors and obstetricians were known to incorporate DES into a regimen of vitamin supplements, so DES mothers did not even know they were taking the drug.
‘The information by Cancer Australia is that the number of women in Australia who took DES is not known,’ explains Carol. ‘Our own guesstimation based on Australian data shows there are many thousands of women and children affected…We believe this health problem needs to be officially quantified to help in health policy and strategies.’
Carol has been lobbying the Australian government for over 30 years to improve public health education about DES, and to include health screening programs for DES daughters and sons. All have been rejected by authorities.
‘We believe there has been a long prevailing, flawed presumption that DES was not prescribed widely in Australia,’ says Carol. ‘It is just horrifying that still today, DES-affected people are literally walking time bombs, oblivious to the harms of DES.’
To find out more, contact Carol Devine, DES Action NSW at c_devine@bigpond.net.au or visit www.desaction.org
