DES health risks and precautions, from Harvard Women's Health Watch
In 1971, the FDA warned doctors to stop prescribing DES after it was linked to a rare cancer of the vagina and cervix in the daughters of women who took the drug while pregnant. Many studies since then have confirmed links between DES exposure and various health risks. Since 1992, with the DES Follow-up Study, the National Cancer Institute has been monitoring women who took DES and their daughters and sons who were exposed to it in the womb.
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