[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 161 (Friday, September 17, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E983-E984]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   IN RECOGNITION OF SYBIL SHAINWALD

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Friday, September 17, 2021

  Mrs. CAROLYN B. MALONEY of New York. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay 
tribute to Sybil Shainwald, for her unwavering dedication to advocacy 
for women and especially for women's health. For over forty years, Ms. 
Shainwald has been at the forefront of the women's health movement.
  Ms. Shainwald received a Master of Arts in History from Columbia 
University in 1972 with a focus on the consumer movement. In 1972, she 
was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities Grant to establish 
the Center for the Study of the Consumer Movement at the Consumers 
Union, which she directed from 1972-1978. While director, she attended 
New York Law School and received her Juris Doctor in 1976.
  As a trial assistant in the late 1970's, Ms. Shainwald successfully 
represented the first case that held drug manufacturers liable for the 
health problems of children whose mothers had taken the synthetic 
estrogen drug diethylstilbestrol (DES) to prevent miscarriage. Since 
then, she has represented thousands of people in the U.S. and globally, 
who were exposed in utero to DES.
  In addition to her courtroom advocacy, Ms. Shainwald was also a 
professor of law at the City University of New York and currently sits 
on the Board of Trustees of New York Law School. In 2004, she 
established the Sidney Shainwald Public Interest Lectures at New York 
Law School.
  Through her writing, testimony before the U.S. Food and Drug 
Administration and Congress, and her leadership of advocacy groups, Ms. 
Shainwald has raised national awareness of crucial women's health 
issues. In the 1980s, she traveled internationally to educate women on 
the toxicity of Depo-Provera, though not approved by the FDA for 
contraceptive use, these birth control shots were marketed in 80 
foreign countries and, through legal loopholes, to poor, minority, and 
mentally incapacitated women in the U.S. Ms. Shainwald estimated that 
20,000 American women were prescribed this drug, linked to cancer in 
lab animals, as a contraceptive and to treat PMS and endometriosis, and 
were not told about its side effects.
  Ms. Shainwald is former Chair of the National Women's Health Network, 
Co-Founder of Health Action International and Trial Lawyers for Public 
Justice. She was a member of the FDA Consumer Consortium and a member 
of the Coordinating Committee on Toxics and Drugs. She is on the Board 
of the Hysterectomy Educational Resources & Services Foundation (HERS) 
and other non-profit organizations. Ms. Shainwald also recently helped 
establish an Immigration Clinic at the College of William & Mary Law 
School.
  Ms. Shainwald has received numerous awards for her advocacy, 
including the President's Medal from New York Law School, the Dean's 
Award from Columbia University, the Susan B. Anthony Award from the 
National Organization for Women, New York County Lawyer's Association's 
Edith I. Spivak Award and both New York Law School and William & Mary 
bestowed Honorary Doctor of Law Degrees to her. Most recently, New York 
State Assembly Member Rebecca Seawright honored Ms. Shainwald with her 
annual Carolyn B. Maloney Leadership award.
  Ms. Shainwald has worked for decades as an advocate for women's 
health and can be credited with many advances in the field. Her 
tireless advocacy has done nothing short of save lives.

[[Page E984]]

  Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing Sybil 
Shainwald for her remarkable advocacy for the health of women all over 
the world.

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