What's happened to Thalidomide babies?

[dipsydoodle]

Fifty years ago, the sedative Thalidomide was withdrawn after thousands of mothers gave birth to disabled babies. That ageing Thalidomide generation now faces rising care bills - but some hope a possible Nazi link to the drug could bring more compensation.

In November 1961, I was five months old. My family had no idea why their otherwise healthy baby boy had been born with short arms, twisted hands and no thumbs.

But by the end of that month, the truth was finally out in the open.

After a German newspaper reported that Thalidomide was the likely cause for the mysterious spate of disabled babies born in Germany since 1958, the drug's producer, Chemie Gruenenthal, caved in to growing pressure, and on 26 November withdrew all products containing Thalidomide from what had been very lucrative, over-the-counter sales.

A few days later, Thalidomide's British licensee, Distillers, followed suit in the UK. But by then, the damage was done.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-15536544

[rfranklin]

1. The drug was not approved by the FDA until 1998...

Until 1998, thalidomide was not approved in the United States. This was largely due to the skepticism of FDA medical officer Frances Kelsey, MD, PhD (4). Dr. Kelsey wanted proof that thalidomide was safe for humans, particularly for the embryo. By late 1961, the drug's unique ability to cause serious human malformations was becoming clear.

The worldwide thalidomide tragedy changed the way drugs are developed, tested and regulated in the United States, significantly broadening FDA authority. Dr. Kelsey often is credited with sealing the FDA's reputation as the world's premier authority on food and drug safety.

http://www.marchofdimes.com/pregnancy/alcohol_thalidomide.html

[raccoon]

3. If thalidomide had been introduced today, I wonder what would happen.

Given the different way the UK and the US handled Mad Cow Disease in the 1990's or whenever it was.

[FailureToCommunicate]

2. Yes, huge thanks to Dr Frances Kelsey who fought the drug giants and kept

Thalidomide from being offered in the US. The numbers of families affected would have been astronomical. Dr Kelsey stood her ground against huge pressure for drug company profits.

My father met extensively with European families in the 60's who had babies born with deformities, advocating for them to be accepted by the families and the community -mainstreamed instead of institutionalized.

Father was himself born without arms - on a farm in Missouri - due to something gestational (poultry virus?) similar to Thalidomide. Luckily his parents expected him to carry his weight for chores around the farm. He grew up feeling he should be able to try to do any of the things others took for granted - go to school, write, drive, go to college, fall in love...

The inequality of the wealth of the world always falls hardest on the poor and disabled. It shouldn't be that way, at least for health care!

Thanks Dipsydoodle, for the thread.

[dipsydoodle]

4. From memory,

and allow for the fact I'm 68 now so do recall the sequence of events as they occurred , although it wasn't used in the USA there were the wives of some US forces personnel who were based in Germany who were affected.

Over the years I've come across some of the children , now adults , who were affected their mother's use of Thalidomide and must say its quite remarkable how they've adapted in ways which the rest of us, used to full use of our limbs , could never do in the event of their subsequent loss.

[FailureToCommunicate]

7. Yes, that is true. We were living in Bethel, (North Germany) the 'British'

section of Germany, and the American military were mostly in the south around Stuttgart, but Thalidomide use was -unfortunately - widespread.

Returning soldiers to this day have to try to rebuild their lives, relearning how to function with missing limbs and battered heads...

Their sacrifice and that of their family -if they have one- continues for the rest of their lives.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. The drug manufactures pedaled Thalidomide as a remedy for morning sickness,

making it attractive to vulnerable women. What makes this situation truly horrific is the continued prescription and promotion of this drug after the company knew there was a controversy about babies being born deformed when their mothers took this drug. No warnings to the expectant mothers of course.

[Boxerfan]

6. I know one that drives/ shows a vintage Aussie Ford hot rod...

I stopped to look at his car at a road race in the Tacoma Washington area...I forget the name of the car & it is bugging me now. But it was a rough/ready version of a mustang IIRC...The man who owned it installed some aids so he could drive it.

I had not seen anyone with that condition for over a decade. I asked up front-Thalydamide?..He said yes & we got back to talking about vintage cars...

So at least some of them are doing very well..

And damn if we wouldn't be triple duck plucked if it happened nowadays-where greed is the corporate moto.

[FailureToCommunicate]

8. Humans (especially OT's and PT's) can be real creative. Dad usually drove with

his foot up on the wheel, but for a few years we had a car modified with a second small disc on the floor tied to the steering column.

(Made for some fun with dates when I was in high school!)

[FailureToCommunicate]

9. kick

[dipsydoodle]

10. I hadn't realised

that those children affected would then pass the effects onto their own children too. See here :

Thalidomide, the nightmare drug responsible for over 10,000 human birth deformities, has again reared its ugly head with the appearance of its dreadful effects being passed on to the children of victims. This latest threat of the possibility further litigation against the makers of thalidomide has once again rallied industry-beholden animal researchers to the drug's defence with laboratory data "disproving" the clinical findings.

As reported in the British Sunday Mirror, the babies of six young men who were born deformed because of thalidomide have also been born with malformed limbs. Two of the babies have almost identical deformities to their fathers. Obstetrician Dr William McBride, whom first warned against thalidomide in 1961, has called on doctors to study children of victims and report back to determine the scale of the tragedy. (1) He says there are second generation victims in Germany, Japan and Bolivia as well as Britain. (2)

http://www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr/online/research/thalid2.html

[FailureToCommunicate]

11. Hmm. Had not heard of that. Thanks for the link.

[eggplant]

12. You do realize that it is still available, right?

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001053/

It is used to treat leprosy. Modern capsules have special graphics on them:

[FailureToCommunicate]

14. Used to treat a number of serious conditions, HIV and some cancers

As long as pregnant woman leave it alone, it sounds pretty important...

Thanks for the picture. Wonder if anyone could tell what that graphic was on a small -ish pill

[midnight]

13. we cannot prove that Thalidomide was definitely developed and tested in prison camps by the Nazis

"Although, at this stage, we cannot prove that Thalidomide was definitely developed and tested in prison camps by the Nazis, there is overwhelming circumstantial evidence that it was tested as part of their search for an antidote to nerve gas."


What a frightening outcome of pure hell for these families.... Sounds like the calling card of the Nazi's....

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. One of the Thalidomide babies grew up to become the marvelous baritone

Thomas Quasthoff.



I saw him in Portland before he became famous, soloing in Haydn's The Creation. The audience gasped when he walked on stage, but he soon won everyone over with his rich, expressive voice.

[FailureToCommunicate]

16. People come in all sizes and shapes. Their talents are not restricted by that but by

the size of their hearts and passions.

When we lived in Germany the town where Thomas Quasthoff grew up, Hildesheim, was nearby so it is likely that his parents were part my father's family meetings promoting the notion of mainstreaming.
Greet the man (not the disability) was his message.

My father was denied entry to the close by grade school because the headmaster was sure his odd look -no arms- would disrupt the other children's learning. He , and his two brothers, had to walk 3 miles to a different schoolhouse where the teacher was more tolerant of differences. The other kids' curiosity lasted about five minutes and from then on he was just part of the class. My father thought of that first teacher as he got his second doctorate, and what might have been different if his parents had not insisted he go to school even thought much further away...