Pregnancy drug women urged to claim payouts

Women whose mothers were prescribed the common pregnancy drug DES will be encouraged to seek compensation as it has been linked to certain cancers.

The drug, whose full name is diethylstilboestrol, was widely prescribed between 1938 and 1971 in the false belief it could reduce the risk of miscarriage.

In 1971, researchers found a link between DES and vaginal cancer in daughters of the women given the medicine.

It has also been linked to an increased risk of breast and cervical cancer in such women.

Washington-based lawyer Aaron Levine will travel to the UK in two weeks to organise a hunt for the so-called “DES daughters” who have been unable to claim compensation in the British courts.

Hundreds of thousands of people are estimated to have been exposed to the drug.