Premiere Date: June 17, 1997
Synopsis
Filmmaker Judith Helfand turns the camera on herself to document her battle with cancer caused by DES, a drug prescribed to her mother during pregnancy. Refusing to confine the tears, rage, laughter and hope to dinner table conversations, Helfand invites us to witness her personal journey from radical hysterectomy patient to vocal opponent of toxic exposure. From her suburban home to the halls of Congress, the intensely private becomes widely public, and an American family is transformed and strengthened.
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Filmmaker
Judith Helfand
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Critical Acclaim
A devastatingly sad, funny and all-embracing work.”
— Newsday
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Reviews & Reactions
Average Review
| based on 1 review
"A Healthy Baby Girl"
This outstanding documentary brings to light the devastating impacts our chemical industry corporations have on human life in their predatory marketing and business practices for achieving maximum profit potential. DES - a synthetic estrogen is one of many that are still on the market today in our water, consumer products and food. This documentary illustrates the devastating results of exposure to just one of these harmful chemicals. The history of DES is an important lesson. When one market dried up after this chemical was determined to be harmful, the manufacturers then proceed to a new market system. DES was banned on livestock in 1959 but not banned for use on the human population until 1971. Eli Lilly continued to manufacture DES and sell this harmful chemical to other populations abroad in their quest to achieve maximum profit potential and at the expense of human life.
by Renee G Davis from Oak Park , Illinois
September 24, 2009, 10:13 AM