DES Website Reminder Cards

DES Action Australia-NSW produces DES Website Reminder Cards to help people with known or suspected DES exposure. This business-sized card highlights and reminds people of this blog site and its reverse-side calendar is a reminder tool for annual DES examinations.
DES Action Australia-NSW makes these cards available to individuals affected and relevant health centres across Australia.


Why is the DES Website Reminder Card important for DES exposed men and women and their families to keep?

DES research is continuing and in particular in third generation effects. Should there be any findings that affect people's health care needs, then they and their families can know about this and take due care. This card can also be kept by people affected in their purse/wallets to help remind them of their necessary health checks.

DES Action Australia-NSW is especially grateful for the assistance of Women's Hospitals Australasia in forwarding (with their Association's compliments) our card samples and notification of the availability these cards to Women's Hospitals in Australia and New Zealand.

Media Likes WONDER DRUG

This week our star screenwriter, Caitlin McCarthy has attracted the favourable attention of the Associated Press with an article highlighting the stage reading of WONDER DRUG. The photograph here shows Caitlin (centre), with actress Juliet Landau (Buffy the Vampire Slayer) and actor John Buffalo Mailer (Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps).

You can find this article by visiting Caitlin's Facebook website at
www.facebook.com/wonderdrugthemovie

While on Facebook, go ahead and support all the efforts towards the development of the movie WONDER DRUG.

Let it be known Australia needs a movie like this!

Be Creative

www.artsawards.com.au

Through the Cancer Council Victoria Arts Awards held every year, there is wonderful opportunity for people affected by DES exposure to express their feelings and experiences in the context of cancer in a creative way. Entries made to this Arts Awards competition can be in the form of visual art, short story, poetry or film. The cost of entry is only $10 and all entries are displayed in an exhibition tour of Melbourne and regional Victoria.

What a fantastic way to spread the message about DES exposure (and support a worthy charity)!!

Don't worry that entries for 2010 have now closed, because this gives everybody time to get creative juices flowing. You can register your interest now for next year's Awards in 2011 by emailing arts.awards@cancervic.org.au or phoning 1300 65 65 85.

Here is an entry submitted in the poetry section for 2010:

Compounded maths of DES

evaluate:
twists of wonder drug hype
that sap the tiny fetal system
in cancerous dumps of D-E-S
inert toxic
in utero in mother-love

add:
calm doctor-words to soothe
the fray of maternal nerves -
candy-clatter spills of D-E-S pills
to hide kerching of dividends

subtract post-birth:
wombs of babies and their bits down there
(lost in cancer's lust)
records
(lost in rush or floods or flame)
voices
(lost in D-E-S hush)

then multiply:
the repeating clouds of cancer thoughts
the shuns intercepting rights for care
the power of wonder drug cravings

equals:
an imbalanced equation -
the women who weep
while people in obtusity
sweep dust of D-E-S under carpets


Footnote: Diethylstilboestrol (DES) was an anti-miscarriage hormone prescribed to pregnant women from 1938-1971 (and sometimes beyond) and is known to cause cancer and reproductive problems to both those women and their children exposed to DES.

Copyright Carol Devine, April 2010

THE DESFACTOR

For immediate and more comprehensive updates about the latest in DES research AND to have this delivered directly to you, think about subscribing to THE DESFACTOR.

With three issues per year, this newsletter by DES Action NSW is a link to the best available information from DES Action USA and other affiliated groups. At the national level, you can keep well informed about lobbying efforts on the Australian front. At the same time, your subscription will help keep the administration of DES Action Australia-NSW alive and well - so, it's a kind of insurance for you and your family!


DES ACTION NSW SUBSCRIPTION FORM

Your financial help will greatly assist our work to continue, but do contact us if helping is difficult and we can make arrangements. Membership cost is $20 per year - cheque/money order payable to "DES Support-NSW" and send to 14 Edmundson Cl, Thornleigh NSW 2120.
Alternatively you may wish to deposit subscription in the organisation account: Westpac 032-087 11-9974 Account name: DES Support NSW. Please notify us with details if you have done this (Ph: 02 98754820 or email c_devine@bigpond.net.au)

Name:...............................................................

Address: ............................................................. Postcode: ........

Phone: ......................................

Email address (if one available) to receive newsletter: ............................................

Cheque/Money Order enclosed for $.................... Donations appreciated!

Note: DES Action NSW operates independently of the Melbourne-based group DES Action Australia.

More Success for "WONDER DRUG"

This month, our favourite award-winning screenwriter, Caitlin McCarthy encountered another success with the stage reading of selected scenes from the movie in development, WONDER DRUG. (See www.wonderdrugthemovie.com) This stage reading event, produced by Patti Negri and Brain Brew Entertainment, was held at Los Angeles Cinespace and was a fundraiser for DES Action USA.






Directed by Janet Miller, the reading featured actress Juliet Landau, best known for co-starring as Loretta King Hadler in Tim Burton's ED WOOD and for portraying Drusilla on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and spin off show "Angel" (the latter appearance earning her a Saturn Award nomination); playwright, actor, producer, and journalist John Buffalo Mailer, who can be seen in Oliver Stone's film WALL STREET: MONEY NEVER SLEEPS and was previously selected as one of People Magazine's sexiest men alive in 2002; Kent Osborne, a three-time Primetime Emmy nominated animator, author, storyboard artist and actor; actor Scott Atkinson; actor Tegan West; actress, stand-up comic, and voice over artist Alicyn Packard; actress Ruth Williamson; and award-winning actress, screenwriter, and voiceover artist Elizabeth Kate.
Caitlin tells us that there were high profile attendees at the reading and after-party, including: WONDER DRUG's executive producer Mark Romeo; Jim Forbes, the producer and "voice" of VH-1's "Behind the Music"; Craig Sneiderman, Director of Booking, Global Touring for Live Nation; D.H. Peligro, drummer of the Dead Kennedys; Oscar-nominated director Matia Karrell; actress Hallee Hirsh (16 to LIFE and YOU GOT MAIL); screenwriter/producer Gretchen Somerfeld (the upcoming FACE VALUE); director Nathan Atkinson (COMPULSIONS and TRACKS OF SAINTS); and many others.
Judging by response, there is certainly a huge groundswell in popularity for WONDER DRUG in its developmental stages! We’d love to see WONDER DRUG the movie in Australia. So here’s a call to all Aussies - please put in a plug for Caitlin at www.facebook.com/pages/WONDER-DRUG/233795428655
Keep on keeping on, Caitlin!

TOXIC BODIES: Hormone Disruptors and the Legacy of DES

A New Book by Nancy Langston

ISBN 978-0-300-13607-4

Focusing on the history of DES, Nancy Langston gives a disturbing analysis of government neglect to regulate synthetic hormones. This book holds many lessons in modern precautionary policy and the author declares women’s bodies to be toxic waste sites for endocrine disrupting chemicals and drugs. A compelling read!

By ordering your copy via www.goodshop.com and designating DES Action USA, you can make a donation (at no cost to you) towards the DES Action cause.

Write "DES exposed" on your BreastScreen Questionnaire

When you next attend BreastScreen, make sure to provide detail of your DES exposure in the question about hormonal treatment on the Breast Cancer Family History Questionnaire. We know that DES exposure is not currently questioned on this form. However, by adding the detail of your DES exposure, this helps BreastScreen assess your risk.

Some members of DES Action Australia-NSW (DES daughters and mothers) following their mammograms have received letters from BreastScreen stating: Based on the information you provided and in keeping with current scientific evidence, you may have a greater chance of developing breast cancer than the average woman of your age and you are eligible for annual screening through BreastScreen NSW.