Essay On Diethylstilbestrol

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Imagine being in a family that is expecting their first child. Articles in the newspaper are showing how the chances of miscarriages are increasing. As soon as anxiety starts to take over, a flip of a page in the newspaper changes everything. An article about a new drug called Diethylstilbestrol seems to be on the next page. Diethylstilbestrol, also known as DES, is a medicine that helps prevent women from having pregnancy complications including miscarriages. “This is amazing!” one may say, but do they really know the consequences of taking this new medication? Diethylstilbestrol was a huge turning point for most pregnant women in the early twentieth century; however, it had many underlying negative consequences that would later affect the mother and child with the word no one ever wants to hear; cancer.
To begin with, DES is a medication that some women would take during their pregnancy. Diethylstilbestrol is a synthetic estrogen that was created by man (“DES Exposure: Questions and Answers”). It was prescribed to help women who were having pregnancy complications and it was supposed to fix these problems (“DES Exposure: Questions and Answers”). DES was mainly to prevent miscarriages. Even though Diethylstilbestrol was never patented, it was sold in more than 200 brand name medications (“DES Update: Consumers”). Eli Lilly Company was the biggest supplier of the medication Diethylstilbestrol (“DES”). After failing to help women with pregnancy complications, Diethylstilbestrol was recalled in 1971 due to the negative health effects it was causing in pregnant women and their children (“Diethylstilbestrol (DES)”). This is good because they took it off the market before it could hurt anymore people. Even though DES was proven in...

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...osure: Questions and Answers”). In the long run, those who were exposed to Diethylstilbestrol will be affected later on in life.
In brief, Diethylstilbestrol was a huge turning point for most pregnant women in the early twentieth century; however, it had many underlying negative effects including cancer, and reproductive system deformations. Diethylstilbestrol was used to prevent miscarriages and it was found inefficient. The women who took Diethylstilbestrol put themselves and their kids at risk. Diethylstilbestrol was made with good intentions but the creator did not know the harmful effects it would have on its patients. There are many people still living with the side effects of Diethylstilbestrol, many of which are incurable. This exemplifies how someone can have a good idea to make someone’s life better, but in the end it can lead to a devastating aftermath.

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