About Us
Our group is dedicated to seeking justice for all those exposed to DES. Please see below for additional information on our mission and values and our founding members.
Our Mission and Values
The situation with diethylstilbestrol (DES) is an URGENT consumer health situation due to the severity and life changing issues that continue to be documented and discovered on a regular basis, not to mention those still being researched.
What we are seeking is medical monitoring in perpetuity for DES mothers, sons, daughters, third generation (DES grandchildren) and beyond, as well as those who have loved ones harmed by this drug. We are actively seeking funds for all the damages incurred by those impacted to include physical, medical, emotional, and mental damages. We are looking to abolish statutes of limitations and end non-disclosure agreements to ensure that everyone has the ability to seek justice for their own unique situation.
Why are we doing this? Because there are no safe levels of DES exposure, no matter how little was administered to DES mothers. Some women were even given increased doses during their pregnancy. But what we know is that DES remains in the body, and as a transplacental agent, moving from mother to child, and we now know from child to grandchild. Those who were exposed to DES across generations may not be sick today, but many may be sick tomorrow, and all of us know people in those situations.
Pharmaceutical companies failed to advise of health risks, despite what they knew, and still continued to push this medication resulting in an increased incidence of medical conditions to include genetic diseases, cancer of various types, and even the death of DES children and grandchildren. While our injuries may be mostly invisible to the world, our scars are hidden under clothes or in our own psyche from our trauma, and for many of us diseases continue to wrack our bodies internally. These companies continue to engage in willful negligence and depraved disregard for human life by CONTINUING to manufacture DES, despite all of the known incidents of harm and injuries caused by their product to patients and even workers in plants where they manufacture DES. Lobbyists for this industry continue to create legal roadblocks to deny justice, often by allowing them to not be held accountable or allowing for survivors to receive fair compensation for damages. Some of these roadblocks include creating impossible statutes of limitations to sue for damages caused by a substance that continues to cause medical damage, even as recent studies continue to highlight the ongoing danger of this drug.
Some large class action lawsuits have opened the door for us to demand justice. At this juncture we have decided now is the time to works towards ensuring that all those harmed have the opportunity to seek justice for these harms. Now is the time to push forward to ensure the public is aware of the dangers of this disease, and to make sure that the bane of DES can not harm anyone else.
Now is the time to seek justice for all.
Our Founding Members
Rachel Epstein
Rachel was born in the mid 1950s in Los Angeles, California and is what she refers to as "broken from birth" due to DES exposure in-utero. Rachel is a three-time cancer survivor (so far), thirty surgeries, and five active auto-immune diseases, all of which are related to DES. Rachel had one "surprise" pregnancy that resulted in the premature delivery and subsequent death one month later of her son, Jason. Rachel is the proud mother of her son Justin, who is also a co-founder of DES Coalition. In the late 1970s, Rachel's instrumental work helped change the California law to ensure that insurance companies could not deny those who suffered from DES-related diseases be denied coverage under the premise of "from preexisting conditions from birth." While Rachel has always persevered and found ways to continually move forward, these continual medical issues related to DES denied her two passions - pursuing a law degree, as well as pursuing a successful opera and off-Broadway musical career.
While Rachel has not worked with DES groups actively since the mid-1990s, after the death of her mother from breast cancer/dementia, finding the DES groups on Facebook several years ago motivated and encouraged her to renew her efforts to seek justice for all those afflicted with DES-related conditions. In concert with the other founding members, Rachel helped start DES Coalition as a rallying group to consolidate efforts to actively seek justice and appropriate resolutions for all those also impacted. Rachel now lives in Virginia with her husband Todd and two wonderful dogs.
Maureen Tobin-Brinkman
A native of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Maureen was born in the late 1950s as the middle child of five and the only one exposed prenatally to DES. Her immune system was compromised from childhood, and was hospitalized several times by the age of 5. Later in life, Maureen nearly bled to death during two of her eight miscarriages and during the delivery of one of her sons. Maureen has suffered from a number of other health issues to include the removal of her non-functioning large intestine, years of visiting specialists, taking tests and medication trials, and extended visits to the Mayo Clinic. Emotionally, while her mother admitted to taking DES when she was thirty, Maureen’s mother suggested it “wasn’t a big deal,” continued to treat her differently from her siblings, and the two continue to not have a bond to this day.
In 2019, Maureen came across a DES support group on Facebook, and was touched by the stories of so many others who were adversely affected by DES, realizing how many of the stories mirrored her own life history. From that point forward, Maureen devoured all of the resources and research articles available about DES, realizing that the medical issues of her life were cast before birth, and there may be no way to get better. Now, in addition to help start DES Coalition, Maureen also serves as the moderator for another DES Facebook group, DES Info, and wants to help others who are afflicted by the harms of DES. Maureen strives to understand the confusion, anger, sadness, and illnesses associated with DES and DES Syndrome, and wants to bring awareness and knowledge to those suffering from it.
Theresa Koneig
Biography coming soon.
Justin Rahmani
Justin is the son of fellow co-founder Rachel Epstein, and is the administrative and IT backbone for DES Coalition. Having seen the suffering Rachel has gone through her whole life, Justin is fully motivated to supporting DES Coalition in any way possible. This includes helping develop the messaging campaign for the organization, managing its website, helping address correspondence with members and those reaching out to the group, and bolstering their social media presence in order to help the group seek the justice and resolution that all those impacted by DES deserve.
Our Partners
David Tsveer
David is a resident in counseling for mental health therapy as well as a friend of Justin Rahmani. Through Justin's explanation of DES as well as the DES Coalition, David became quickly interested in understanding more about the coalition as well as how he could help increase the attention of the Coalition and the travesty created by DES itself. David is happy to listen to, support, validate, and be there for his clients, family, and friends.
If anyone needs to reach out, you can contact David using the information below.
David Tsveer, Resident in Counseling
(571) 406-4796
tsveerd@gmail.com
http://dtcounseling.com/