DES: Resources and links
This section offers a range of organisations, books and other resources addressing a wide range of issues concerning DES.
 DES Action Groups
DES Action groups were founded in 1975 in the US, 1980 in Australia, 1981 in the Netherlands, 1982 in Canada and 1987 in France.
In 1989 Channel 4 featured DES in the consumer programme 4 What It’s Worth. More than 500 inquiries resulted, and DES Action UK was born. There are now five regional groups in the UK.
The aims of DES Action groups are to help those exposed to DES to be aware of their exposure, and to provide information, doctors’ referrals and counselling support. The group initiates publicity and awareness campaigns aimed at those who may be DES exposed, the medical profession and the government.
UK Contacts
DES-exposed women may wish to contact one of DES Action UK’s volunteers. DES Action UK volunteers are available in North East England, South West England, Scotland and Wales. |
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DES Action UK
PO Box 128
Blaydon LDO
Tyne and Wear NE40 3YQ
email: mail@des-action.org.uk
website: www.des-action.org.uk
Their newsletters can be found online at: www.des-action.org.uk/DES_Comp/allnews.htm
Other Contacts
DES Action USA
610 16th Street, Suite 301
Oakland, CA 94612
USA
e-mail: desaction@earthlink.com
website: www.desaction.org
DES Cancer Network
P.O. Box 220465
Chantilly VA 20153-0465
USA
e-mail: desnetwrk@aol.com
website: www.descancer.org
This is a support group for DES daughters who develop clear cell cancer.
Recommended Reading
To do no harm: DES and the dilemmas of modern medicine by Roberta J Apfel and Susan M Fisher
(1984), Yale University Press.
Our stolen future by Theo Colborn, Dianne Dumanski and John Peterson Myers
(1996), Abacus.
Both books are easy to read and give a personal and social insight into some of the medical questions associated with DES exposure.
Our stolen future looks also at other medical dilemmas; To do no harm, by contrast, is exclusively about DES, and considers the emotional response which each group of DES-exposed people has to DES. A psychologist explains some of the attitudes exhibited by GPs and consultant specialists in their treatment of mothers, daughters and sons. It is a most helpful description of each personal response to the discovery of DES exposure and the way that people best cope.
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