The Shadow of the Thalidomide Tragedy | Retro Report | The New York Times

Frances Kelsey is a absolute hero. She stood her ground against a rich and powerful company. She should have been rewarded at least with a nobel prize. She saved uncountable babies

I was about 12 years old when this story broke. I can still remember the article and accompanying photos of affected babies in “Life Magazine”.

Here in UK my parents knew someone whose baby was affected , he was born in jan 1962 i was born jan 1963 , it was withdrawn just after he was born and just before i was born. He was very badly deformed in body and in face , my mother told me that the doctors and nurses didnt tell the mother before letting her see the baby , she had no warning , she had a very bad reaction through no fault of her own, it was such a shock , they really should of spoke to her before showing her , the baby was adopted . This could of happened to any of us born at that time .

Anyone else getting nazi vibes from this drug? Like they really didnt know it was bad and prescribed it for morning sickness of all things? Im not buying it.

Isn't free market great? Best thing that ever happened to humanity.

If you disagree in any way - you hate freedom and democracy and you make me sick

what people dont understand is that this drug was allowed in America for a short time. "In the 1950s and 1960s, up to 20,000 Americans were given thalidomide, but it was never approved for marketing in the United States. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) rejected the drug, but an early-stage clinical trial did distribute it to 1,200 physicians and their patients. Thalidomide was briefly available in the US as an investigational agent, endorsed as an anxiolytic, but never approved for marketing."" this is how my 4th brother died.

I was born in 1957. By Gods grace I was not exposed to this chemical. My brother and I did suffer from another drug that turned our teeth brownish yellow for ever. I don't recall its name but I am sure some of you out there know of it.

I was born with 4 arms and 8 legs ,they call me spiderman

It would be great if American film makers did some research on the original pronunciation of proper names. First I didn't know what company or substance he was talking about until I saw it written. "Th" elswhere maybe only a "t". Thanks.

Im sorry leprosy is still a thing?!

An apology 50 years later in meaningless because the people apologizing weren't the people who committed the crime.

Fortunately, I was born in 1964, and my mother didn't suffer too badly. I came late to this party and am grateful.

I don't know, it seems like thalidomide is a great drug, just don't take if pregnant, a lot of medicines are like that

My mother took it and it enabled me to breath through my ears and burp through my butt.

And this is why big pharma cannot be trusted.

Before Thalidomide expectant mothers were give DES. My mother had it to prevent another miscarriage in 1949. This drug affected daughters of those mothers. I was not able to carry a baby to term. The drug caused cancer as well which I have had. Drugs used to be rushed to sales and slow to remove from market. Now we have Ozempic for obese diabetics, which people now take as a diet drug for weight loss.

What happens when you get doctors from the third reich working at your pharmacy companies.

We are nothing but lab rats to the psychos bent on fame and fortune. This continues today with other drugs and procedures, but the general public doesnt 'believe' THEY can do that to us. Can, Do, Are.Remember the 70s, when kids WERE NOT allowed to take medications? Remember the 90s when the ONLY pain relief even after surgery, was 2 Tylenol 3's? You couldnt get a BOTTLE of pain killers, BECAUSE MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS KNEW IT WAS ADDICTIVE. When did that ball get dropped? We could trust the medical community to monitor meds and the dangers of addiction. We were a more conscious society then, before all the entitlement, lazy parenting and overindulgence took over, making the fat cats fatter and Society a toilet. Who decided the rules were irrelevant?

This video's description of the rapid approval and distribution of Thalidomide reminds me an awful lot of the Covid Vaccines .

❤😢🎉🎉🎉

What's so horrifying is that in a poor country like Brazil, there will be very little support for children born with deformities from thalidomide.

Covid Vaccine hold my side effects!

Ok, cool people did not properly tret a drug. But what was this drug used for in the first place?
Many medicines, drugs, steroids are big no go during pregnancy, why this drug so special? This was the first that caused these horrid deformitis on fetuses, till that noone treated pregnancy and drugs properly??

this reminds me of how the China virus (covid 19) vaccines had not been fully tested as the government insisted/pressured us all to get the injection.

Thank God my mother didn’t took that… I was born in 1964 I have seen my classmate has that when I was little kid 1973

Хиросиму помните , Вьетнам помните ?Почему спрашиваете , за всё нужно платить !

I think this story is such a powerful example of how there’s no “evil” drugs, just evil people. Thalidomide is like any other substance, useful and even life saving in the correct circumstances but deadly when human greed and obstinance get in the way. I’m glad that the survivors are strong enough to realize this, and I wouldn’t begrudge them for not being able to accept it, but when even people horribly disfigured due to drug companies’ actions can come together and advocate for the controlled use of a drug to save lives that really just goes to show how important it is that we keep holding companies accountable and demand extensive research and safety over profits.

I mean honestly there's lots of drugs out there that are helpful treatments but will cause defects if you take while pregnant. I don't care what they tell me. I refused to take anything while I was pregnant. I was supposed to start a antidepressant the day I found out I was pregnant, and of course I never took it even though they told me I could. I was already vaccinated for covid but was due for a booster, and I told them absolutely not while I'm pregnant. I don't know how you're going to say what the effects are on pregnant people for a brand new vaccine. You would have to follow the children born for the next however many years of their lives to truly know whether or not it was safe, in my opinion. I am not going to take that risk

Dieu lés punira ⚖️

Le blanc et responsable de cela il empoisonne les gens dans leur dos et au jugement dernier il devrait rendre des comptes…. Tout det se paye quand en détruit une vie

I took thalidomide in 2007 for multiple myeloma……15 years in remission, it worked for me, now I’m fighting again with other chemo drugs. Wish me luck….

60+ years later and these MONSTERS are still at it .

Trust the science!

The drug is safe while there’s money to be made for big pharmaceutical companies!

Trinidad in everything boy

8.7M Views on the 14/12/2023.

Video Uploaded on the 24th of September 2013 | 24/9/2013.

199K Likes on the 14/12/2023.

Im 5'11.5 and always thought I was short but this video made me appreciate my healthy body

The dextro form of thalidomide was actually helpful for dealing with morning sickness for women, the laevo form was the one which caused birth defects. Many people think that optical isomers aren't very different in their properties, but this shows how important the knowledge of chemistry is.

Makes me think of the baby in Eraserhead!

Не согласна, нужно просто научиться его правильно использовать, а в то время его пили все безконтрольно, без назначения врача. Алкоголь тоже может нанести ужасный вред и уродство, но в ограниченных количествах его пьют, и дети рождаются нормальными. Также и с талидомидом.

I don't think we've actually learned the lesson not to trust the big pharma... There's reckoning coming about the jabs

Is this why my pp so small?

i thought those were dogs on the thumbnail

Seems immoral to cause new babies to be born deformed for the sake of curing people who are alrealdy sick. Idc if they are helping more people than they harm: its more immoral to harm people than it is moral to help

Being affected by this awful drug is truly a curse of curses

Even thought the child is deceased, they should have honored its modesty. There are still perverts out here and we need to protect all children.

we were taught about this tragedy during chemistry class in high school. we were studying stereochemistry, optical isomerism specifically.

Seeing those kids breaks my heart this drug could have saved my mom if covid hadn’t prevented her from being able to get her cancer diagnosed before it had reached her brain part of her brain died her last days were spent hallucinating and begging any and everyone to let her die no one should ever have to go through what those kids went through what the parents went through or what my mom had gone through she wasn’t at risk of pregnancy or anything she had hit menopause in her early 50’s and she never made it to 60.

how peculiar.