Up To 10,000 Miscarriages & Infant Deaths in the UK Were Caused By Thalidomide

Thalidomide is normally used as a treatment for certain cancers like myeloma, and of a leprosy complication. However, in the late 1950s and early 1960s, more than 10,000 children in 46 countries were born with phocomelia deformities as a consequence of its use, depending on the days into the pregnancy that the mother started using the drug. On the 20th day of pregnancy, it caused central brain damage, day 21 eye damage, day 22 ears and face, day 24 arms.

Due to the side effects, the United Kingdom withdrew the sales of Thalidomide in 1961. However, Canada continued on selling the drugs for another year and was still sold in pharmacies in 1962.

It is not known how many victims there have been worldwide. However, the former director of the trust that oversees parents to affected people estimated the number to be up to 10,000. Martin Johnson, former head of Thalidomide Trust, believed that about 6,000 were miscarried, 2,000 were stillborn, and another 2,000 died in infancy.

Still, the numbers are not exact because as Johnson noted, "There was no criminal trial in Britain and Enoch Powell (health minister between 1960 and 1963) flatly refused a public inquiry." To date, a total of 531 people have been helped by the trust that was established in 1973 as part of a legal settlement between Distillers Company (the thalidomide distributor under Distoval) as well as the disable children who were affected.

A series of revelations in the Sunday Times, which was then edited by Sir Harold Evans also vastly increased the support package for affected families. Currently, however, the funds are now provided by Diageo, which took over the Distillers in 1990. The scandal was also documented in a film called "Attacking the Devil" and is part of the storyline of the BBC's "Call the Midwife," both of which raised awareness of the blunders from half a century ago.