Thalidomide - The Medical Disaster We Should All Remember.

Thalidomide - The Medical Disaster We Should All Remember.

Once touted as a wonder drug that could alleviate any form of nausea Thalidomide also known as Contergan, was prescribed to pregnant women, but soon enough the wonder medicine would become a nightmare...

Thalidomide has strong sedative properties and many women in the early weeks of pregnancy had taken it to ease their morning sickness, utterly unaware its effect on the unborn child can be teratogenic, or "monster-forming".

Limbs can fail to develop properly, in some cases also eyes, ears and internal organs. No-one knows how many miscarriages the drug caused, but it's estimated that, in Germany alone, 10,000 babies were born affected by Thalidomide. Many were too damaged to survive for long.

Today, fewer than 3,000 are still alive. In Britain, it's about 470. Among the nearly 50 countries affected are Japan (approximately 300 survivors), Canada and Sweden (both more than 100), and Australia (45). Spain's government only recently acknowledged the drug was ever distributed there. No-one knows how many Spanish survivors there are. It could be hundreds.

We must not let history repeat itself. Stand up for the victims of medical malpractice. No company should be allowed to cause such harm and have no legal or criminal liability. No company should be allowed to harass, intimidate, and spy on the victims of the own incompetence.

The case around thalidomide set a dangerous precedent for the world of medicine, one with implications being felt to this very day.