WASHINGTON, AUGUST 2021
CONGRESSIONAL RECORD
PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 117TH CONGRESS
IN RECOGNITION OF
SYBIL SHAINWALD
HON. CAROLYN B. MALONEY
OF NEW YORK
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
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 Laws Degree 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.
Madam Speaker, I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the Sybil Shainwald for her remarkable advocacy for the health of women all over the world.
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CAROLYN B. MALONEY
Member of Congress
