Did a drug given to pregnant women in 1955 cause medical problems in their babies?

Question

Like nervous disorders or anxiety disorders?

Answer 1

Could you be referring to Diethylstilbestrol [DES]? This was the so-called miracle miscarriage prevention drug prescribed during pregnancies between 1938-1971 to prevent miscarriage, bleeding issues, premature labor and other pregnancy concerns.

We now know that the offspring of those women, called "DES daughters" (and sons), suffer from a host of grave reproductive illnesses and other serious conditions as a result of in utero exposure to this synthetic estrogen-like drug.

See
http://www.cdc.gov/des/consumers/about/effects_daughters.html

http://www.desaction.org/faq.htm

http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/daughters-exposed-to-des

http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-04-14-des_x.htm

Answer 2

DES:
DES is short for Diethylstilbestrol, a synthetic estrogen (female sex hormone) that was prescribed during the 1950s, 1960s and early 1970s to pregnant women mainly to prevent miscarriage. It causes increased chance of breast cancer in the women who took DES, and increased risk of a rare vaginal cancer in daughters of these women.

Thalidomide:
Thalidomide is a drug that was originally sold during the late 1950s and 1960s as a sleeping aid and to pregnant women as an anti-emetic to combat morning sickness and other symptoms
It was marketed from 1957 - 1961 and caused limb deformities in exposed children.

I don't know of any drug that caused nervous disorders, although if my Mom had been given DES, I'd be nervous about cancer.

Answer 3

Do you know why it was given to them in the first place? I've not heard of this.

Answer 4

thalidomide gave major birth defects