Women face breast cancer risk from miscarriage drug

HUNDREDS of Irish women whose mothers were prescribed a drug aimed at preventing miscarriages face more than double the normal risk of breast cancer.

An American study of 5,000 women due to be published this week has found that those over 40 whose mothers were given diethylstilboestrol (DES) were 2.5 times more likely to develop breast cancer.

The drug was prescribed to hundreds of Irish women between 1955 and 1975 and has caused serious health problems among their daughters.