The act of distributing potentially dangerous medicine to patients regardless of the affect and harm it may do solely for monetary gain is unethical. Lawsuits
In the 1970s, the negative publicity surrounding the discovery of DESs long-term effects resulted in a huge wave of lawsuits in the United States against its manufacturers. These culminated in a landmark 1980 decision of the Supreme Court of California, Sindell v. Abbott Laboratories, in which the court imposed a rebuttable presumption of market share liability upon all DES manufacturers, proportional to their share of the market at the time the drug was consumed by the mother of a particular plaintiff. Eli Lilly, a pharmaceutical company manufacturing DES, and the University of Chicago, had an action filed against them in regard to clinical trials from the 1950s. Three women filed the claim that their daughters had developments of abnormal cervical cellular formations as well as reproductive abnormalities in themselves and their sons. The plaintiffs had asked the courts to certify their case as a class action but were declined by the courts. However, the courts issued an opinion that their case had merit. The court held that Eli Lilly had a duty to notify about the risks of DES once they became aware of them or should have become aware of them. Under Illinois tort law, for the plaintiffs to recover under theories of breach of duty to warn and strict liability, the plaintiffs must have alleged injury to themselves.
Livestock growth promotion
The greatest usage of DES was in the livestock industry, used to improve feed conversion in beef and poultry. During the 1960s, DES was used as a growth hormone in the beef and poultry industries. It was later found to cause cancer by 1971, but was not phased out until 1979. Although DES was discovered to be harmful to humans, its veterinary use was not immediately halted. As of 2011, DES was still being used as a growth promoter in terrestrial livestock or fish in some parts of the world including China. References
Further reading
External links
Diethylstilbestrol (DES) and Cancer National Cancer Institute
DES Update from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
DES Action USA national consumer organization providing comprehensive information for DES-exposed individuals
DES Booklets from the U.S. National Institutes of Health (c. 1980)
DES Follow-up Study National Cancer Institutes longterm study of DES-exposed persons (including the DES-AD Project)
University of Chicago DES Registry of patients with CCA (clear cell adenocarcinoma) of the vagina and/or cervix
DES Diethylstilbestrol Provides resources and social media links for general DES awareness