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"I found out later in life that I was exposed to DES in utero," McCarthy says. "I didn't find out until 2005, at the age of 35. Unfortunately, I'm not alone in not knowing I was exposed. There were a lot of women who were pregnant and were aware that they were given DES. But some were prescribed prenatal vitamins with DES in them, so they were exposed but had no idea."McCarthy had a history of precancerous cell activity, but she did not have HPV and her doctors, many of whom were not aware of DES, were unable to explain the problem. Finally, McCarthy visited a doctor who had experience with DES daughters.
"Within two minutes of looking at me, Dr. Louis Burke said, 'What year were you born?'" McCarthy says. "I told him 1970 and he asked if my mother took DES. I told him I didn't know, but she was with me so we could ask her. She told him she hadn't taken it directly, but that she was prescribed prenatal vitamins and we found out those contained DES. It was devastating for me."
So far, McCarthy's health problems have not progressed beyond precancerous cell activity. But she has special tests every year to ensure that has not changed. She says she lives in fear that at any point, her health situation could change and she will find out she has cancer.
READ MORE DIETHYLSTILBESTROL (DES) LEGAL NEWS
McCarthy was so appalled by the handling of DES that she worked with Senators John Kerry and Scott Brown to get the FDA to acknowledge in 2011 that DES was a tragedy. Although the FDA did not apologize for its role in the tragedy, McCarthy says the acknowledgement was important. Now, her focus is on educating people about DES.
"There are other people out there who do not know they were exposed to DES," McCarthy says. "They may have fertility issues and are considering treatment, but should they be exposed to additional estrogen? If they don't know they're a DES daughter, they might make a decision that puts them in harm's way."
READER COMMENTS
Christine Winberry
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Jamie Stedman
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Bonnie Gillespie
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Ellen Mccarthy
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Suzanne Perot
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Tina
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I also had colon palyps removed. I have a brother born in 1962 that has never fathered a child. My youngest sister was born in 1972, she is the only one that has children besides myself out of a family of 6 children., and I can pretty much say that if I haden't had my children at an early age, I may not have been lucky enough to be a mother. I would have ben devestated like my oldest sister. We are posative our mother took the DES drug with her vitamins. She is older now and doesn't think as clearly, but has told us that te doctor admitted to giving it to her before he died, but the records have been destroyed, but he wanted her to know. Our family alone has suffered from DES drug severely, I can't imagine how many peoples lives it effected. I got this information from my youngest sister who wanted my to pass our information on. As a nurse myself , I just can't imagine how this drug got out there with out FDA approval. Although we all know in the 1970's, Rittalin the drug of choice for ADHD was used for labor. Thats pretty pathetic if you think , how did it get to be a drug used on children? What kind of doctor decided to make that experiment on a childs brain? Anyway, if you need more information, send me an email. Thank you, Its about time someone takes this seriously.... T. itt
Reed
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