Reference summary — not medical advice or a personal risk estimate.
Diethylstilbestrol (DES)
Summary
A synthetic estrogen given to some pregnant women between 1940 and 1971. Daughters and granddaughters of users face increased cancer risk.
Detail
DES is Group 1 with sufficient evidence for breast cancer (in women who took it) and for vagina/cervix clear-cell carcinoma in daughters exposed in utero. DES is no longer prescribed for pregnancy in any country; most exposures are historical, from prescriptions written between roughly 1940 and the early 1970s.
Regional relevance
historical
Sources
Primary sources
Consumer references
Third-party tools some readers use alongside primary evidence. Meyron doesn't endorse them; we link them because you'll otherwise hit them anyway.
- California Prop 65 list
State of California's list of chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm.