moon_custafer: neon cat mask (Default)
moon_custafer ([personal profile] moon_custafer) wrote2012-08-06 10:08 am
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Oh, &#%@!!

"The United States’ systems designed to prevent another tragedy like DES and thalidomide -- involving de facto experimentation on pregnant women and their fetuses -- appear to be broken and ineffectual."

Bioethecists at Northwestern publish whistle-blowing paper on the off-label use of steroids on pregnant women to prevent "tomboyism, lesbianism and intersexuality" in female offspring. It looks as though this started as an attempt to prevent a syndrome that can cause malformed genitalia, but people quickly began trying to tinker with fetal development to make sure they wouldn't have any non-girly impulses, without doing any follow-up to see if it actually worked, and what harm it might be doing.

It's like thalidomide + Dr. Mengele. Fu-uck.