Side-effects of pregnancy drug revealed, 50 years on

A hidden generation of men and women are said to be suffering the side effects of a drug that their mothers took in pregnancy more than 50 years ago. According to an investigation for BBC1's Here and Now programme, they are victims of the effects of Stilboastral, also known as DES, hailed as a solution to miscarriages and infertility in the Forties, Fifties and Sixties.

The drug has since been blamed for cancers, miscarriages and other problems in daughters, and fertility problems in sons of the women treated with DES. The drug, a synthetic oestrogen, was created in the United Kingdom in 1938 and was prescribed to at least 7,500 expectant mothers before 1973. According to the programme, an analysis of international statistics suggested that 14,000 people were affected, but the Department of Health said that the numbers were lower than had been reported.