Judith Barrow with a superb article about Pat Cody, founder of DES Action. DES (diethylstilboestrol), the synthetic estrogen given to women for 30 years until 1973, was expected to prevent miscarriages. Instead, it caused cancer and fertility problems in some daughters and granddaughters of the women who had taken the drug. I first learned about DES, as well as thalidomide — which caused multiple fetal deformities — in nursing school. Pharmaceuticals are prescribed too loosely and taken too readily by too many. Given that Big Pharma is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year industry that cares little about the devastating effects of its products, it’s a wonder so many of us are still alive …
Over the last few months Woman’s Hour on Radio Four has been showcasing seventy women who have promoted women’s issues or represented women in some way through the last seven decades that the programme has run. They presented the final seven last week: http://bbc.in/2hvqozr
There was one woman who I think was missed; a woman who, around her own kitchen table, started a charity which has gone from strength to strength in most countries, except the UK.
Pat Cody started DES Action in 1971 (http://www.desaction.org/) after she learned that the daughters of women who took the anti-miscarriage drug during pregnancy developed cancer and reproductive problems. Pat had taken the drug while pregnant with her first daughter, Martha. Pat served as program director for the group and edited its newsletter. She passed away in September 2010.
Images of Diethylstilboestrol/ Stilboestrol(DES)
The mission of DES Action groups worldwide is to identify…
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TINA FRISCO 