Thalidomide

So thalidomide's a different drug.

How long was thalidomide on the market?

Thalidomide had a very short run.

It was, I think, 57 to 61 or 57 to 62, something like

that.

So I don't think there's anything in good faith about this company.

And also your listeners mightn't be aware that the sales of thalidomide, thalidomide being the ingredient in a load of different brand names, Softenon was the biggest one here in Ireland.

it actually was second only to the sale of aspirin in Germany, where thousands of children were affected.

And then, as I say, it came to Ireland as a product called Softenon, and the harm was done, you know.

And yet, I mean, this was obviously widespread across Europe.

Did it get as far as the United States? Was this a worldwide issue?

Yeah.

Thalidomide survivor, Finola Cassidy.

It's two minutes to nine.

didn't have hands? Oh, was he a thalidomide baby?

I don't know what that's called.

is a medication they used to give to pregnant women that experienced um like excessive nausea and a lot of babies were born because of that with yeah like they it's

called phocomelia yeah phocomelia i'm not actually

Therefore, we should not ban drugs because they produce birth defects.

Thalidomide, you're probably too young to remember it, but it was prescribed to pregnant women and it produced a statistically high incidence of birth defects.

Her argument was, but you don't know what it will produce the next day.

The future is irrelevant.

Extremely different, yes.

Thalidomide was a morning sickness drug, wasn't it? And it was given in good faith.

Yes, it was.

And it's very easy to criticise.

And we'll have to look more into this particular drug-That caused this to happen.

Specifically, the thalidomide tragedy occurred.

Thalidomide was a drug that was being prescribed to European women to alleviate nausea during pregnancy.

It was later found that thalidomide caused severe physical deformities in fetuses.

I've heard of this.