Women whose mothers were given diethylstilbestrol (DES) while pregnant are more likely to have reproductive problems and are predisposed to cancer and pre-cancerous conditions. DES was the first synthetic form of estrogen and was used until the mid-1950s. Researchers at the National Cancer Institute used the presence of vaginal epithelial changes as a biomarker to determine what conditions were mostly likely to cause harm to female offspring. They found that babies who'd been exposed to high doses of DES early in development were more likely to experience certain medical conditions compared to those who were not exposed to the hormone. Release