A drug that pregnant women took half a century ago…then its catastrophic effect appeared

A recent study revealed that a drug that women used to take in the sixties and seventies of the last century, in order to get rid of nausea associated with pregnancy, led to an increased risk of colon cancer in children.

According to the study conducted by a researcher from the University of Texas, the drug known as “dicyclomine” treats spasms caused by irritable bowel syndrome.

The components of this drug were also used in the drug “Benedectin”, which was recommended during pregnancy, starting in the sixties of the last century, in order to prevent nausea and vomiting.

The researcher at the University of Texas Medical School, Kathleen Murphy, explained that the results of the study showed that things that occur in the early stages of life, including the period the fetus spends inside the womb, lead to long-term effects that may occur decades later.

She added that regarding 25 percent of pregnant women in the United States were taking the drug “Bendectin” in the mid-seventies, and then it was found that it had long consequences that continue to this day.

And health data in the United States indicate that the rates of colon cancer in adults increased among those born following the sixties of the last century.

This increase in colon cancer cases among those born following the sixties may be an indication of the effect of taking the drug among pregnant women.

In order to confirm this hypothesis, researchers analyzed data obtained from the “CHDS” authority specialized in children’s health in the United States, which included a sample of several generations, which included more than 14 thousand and 500 pregnant women.

These women gave birth to more than 18,700 babies in California between 1959 and 1967.

About 5 percent of children were exposed, while they were fetuses in their mothers’ wombs, to Bendectin, which made them at risk at a later time, according to the study published in “jnci cancer spectrum”.

The study indicated that those who were exposed to the drug in the wombs of mothers were three times more likely to develop colon cancer, compared to newborns whose mothers did not take the drug.