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sired though limited results. The first artificial hormone, called DES (short for diethylstibestrol) was synthesized in 1938 as the first synthetic estrogen, more potent than that type of natural female hormone, and which could be taken orally. Within a few years, it came to be prescribed to pregnant women for the prevention of miscarriages. Not only did that supposed promise not materialize, but an alarming number of their daughters as they matured to development developed female maladies ranging from excessive bleeding at ovulation to higher rates of breast cancer later on. (While beyond our scope here, these and other disturbing results have been documented in detail by D. Lindsey Berkson and others; see sources.) Most large ranch operations in the U.S. today routinely administer growth hormones to cattle. Starting in the 1940s, DES was widely used to stimulate growth in cattle, pigs, and poultry and thus, was widely ingested by people in the meat they consumed. During the 1950s and 1960s at least 13 million tons of DES were added to animal feed to promote rapid growth and fattening. Serious questions have been raised regarding this practice. (DES was banned by the Food and Drug Adminstartion in 1959 for use for poultry and lambs, but not for cattle; other estrogenic, that is, estrogen-like, syn- “Raised naturally without antibiotics or added hormones” 177