Are you the child or grandchild of DES

[Sandra]

I'm giggilng (with fear?) reading this thread, my hubby and I and freinds speak about this subject on occasion, it's better than a good horror film...anyway my hubby tells the story of the "fogging" at his summer cottage as a kid where the camp super would fog the campground and he was like a kind of pied-piper or kid magnet as the kids would all scramble out of their cottages and trailers to follow him running through the fog.....good lord what a thought....didn't anybody think that it might not be such a good idea? Very happy to say my hubby is 46 and strong and healthy and I hope he stays that way always but HOLY SMOKE!  Sandra

[Sjenny]

Yes, the effects of DES are terrible.

But, actually, don't worry about DDT - there is a lot of evidence that indicates it is safe.  There is even evidence that it fights cancer, seriously.

See http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/Fall02/Mosquitoes.html

Sue
(Ducks and runs from wave of politically correct disapproval and hysteria that will be coming my way.  Yeah, I was carefully brainwashed by Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring in grade school just like everybody else.  Then I grew up and started thinking for myself.)

[Epson]

Sjenny,

DDT might be safe for humans, in low doses or under controlled environments, but it almost drove numerous bird species to extinction, including the Bald Eagle.   Thalidomide is used to treat cancer patients, but we all know the horrible deformities of Thalidomide babies.

Keep the worms in my apple and you can have the DDT.  I worked in the chemical industry for a number of years, what people don't know can kill them or certainly will compromise their health.

[Jesse88]

Oh boy, I remember those fog-spraying trucks.  As kids we used to ride our bikes behind the trucks and be just enveloped in the fog.  It's amazing that I don't have an extra digit growing out of my hands or on top of my head!  I didn't know what the pesticide was until I read this thread.  DDT?  Yikes! 

[Sjenny]

Epson:

For another eye opening point of view, read the following:

http://www.jpands.org/vol9no3/edwards.pdf

Bittman et al.  demonstrated that DDT was NOT responsible for the thinning of egg shells and did NOT drive numerous bird species including the Bald Eagle to extinction.

The real problem DDT effectively addresses was NOT the removal of worms in apples but the real problem of millions of people dying from malaria, (including two children every minute) as we have today WITHOUT DDT.  http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39303

I wasn't suggesting people treat their cancer by running through DDT fogs, only that there may be a lot of unjustified hysteria without an unemotional review of the facts.

Regarding thalidomide - researchers were conducting studies of treatment for Sjs and thalidomide.  See http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00001599

Does anybody know what the results were?

(Bet you'd take it if it worked and you aren't planning on getting pregnant now, are you?)

Sue

[Sandra]

Can't say I have spent much time pooring over studies, but I do find that when there is an outcry about most anything there is where the truth can be found, kind of like safety in numbers. I suppose it all about spin and the almightly dollar. Who can pay the price to win the debate. There are lots of drugs and poisons out there that are a benifit in some way no matter how small and that is a spin I guess. It would be interesting to know both sides of the DDT thing, malaria vs disease, the good and the bad. Is there anyone that give an honest education of both sides and in this world how would we know who is paying for even that opinion? Sandra

[fatburningmachine]

Is there a way to find out if our moms took DES. My mother died in 1954 and I was just a child.

[Epson]

Sue ,

I worked for a company that made a lot of chemicals, including DDT, no one ever thought DDT or most of the other chemicals that they made were safe, but they did  pay people to say they were safe or should I say that they gave research grants to people who just happen to say what the company wanted them to say.

We were told by the tobacco companies cigarette smoke was safe and scientific evidents to boot and I am sure some people believe it.  The chemical industry, just like big pharma doesn't stop selling anything that makes them money, unless there is something wrong with it, they have more lobbyist then Carters has pills, I know, we had to donate part of our pay to the lobbyist fund.

[Sjenny]

Epson:

Big Environmental will engage in fear mongering to push their political agenda with one scam crisis after another.  It all means more power, money and control for them. THEY have more lobbyists than Carter has pills also.
See http://www.undueinfluence.com/worldnetdaily.htm

Read "Environmental Overkill - Whatever Happened to Common Sense"  http://www.amazon.com/Environmental-Overkill-Whatever-Happened-Common/dp/0895265125

Sue

[Epson]

Jenny,

Well, I guess we will just agree to disagree, I am not into conspiracies and some of the people you have sighted have worked for right wing think tanks, not the most impartial people.  I just know what I saw when I worked in the industry and I am sure you have more first hand knowledge about these things the I do, your not a chemical engineer by chance?

Oh, and for the record, Rachel Carson never said DDT should be banned, just studied, the government did the research over a seven year period, maybe they were a commies, I don't know and maybe all the books I read were wrong.

Right now all I know is I have Sjogren's and cancer and I go under the knife tomorrow and there is nothing I can do about any of this or DDT. 

[Sjenny]

Epson:

I am really sorry you have to go under the knife and I pray everything will go well for you.

Sue

I'm a Biologist.  I worked for a big corporation too and I never heard or saw anybody being deliberately evil.  (Really, it's bad for business to kill, sicken and maim your customers.  Who wants to be continuously sued like Big Tobacco?).