Suffer the Children

This is the Story of Thalidomide, a drug given to pregnant women to alleviate morning sickness. It was licensed in the UK in 1958. However, thalidomide was found to cause deformity in children born to mothers who took the drug & it was withdrawn in the early 1960s. Thalidomide caused birth defects across more than 46 nations and affected over 10,000 babies. These babies were born with missing or abnormal limbs, feet or hands. Other defects included abnormal or absent ears, heart and kidney problems, cleft palate, spinal cord defects and digestive system disorders Thalidomide was the first example of a drug that passed legal specifications and regulations without full evaluation of its safety for use in pregnant and breastfeeding mothers. and this tells the full story