The 60 year old thalidomide cover-up

[malaise]

Last edited Sun Sep 2, 2012, 07:19 PM - Edit history (1)

I have a good friend who was a victim of Thalidomide - his dad was a doctor and trusted the drug. He was one of the lucky ones I guess
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/sep/01/thalidomide-cover-up
<snip>
Justice delayed is justice denied. We know that too well. But how do you wrestle with your conscience when the injustice you have perpetrated has destroyed the lives of children and left thousands of thalidomide victims still enduring pain and suffering, without adequate compensation? The German company Chemie Grünenthal, having denied justice for 50 long years, has now unveiled a bronze statue of a child born without limbs, and its chief executive, Harald Stock, says: "We ask for forgiveness that for nearly 50 years we didn't find a way of reaching to you from human being to human being. Instead we remained silent."

CG did not just remain silent. It brought forth the drug thalidomide on 1 October 1957, from very murky origins indeed. It licensed its manufacture worldwide as a safe sleeping drug for mothers in pregnancy. One of the licensees was the British whisky company, Distillers, which put "Distaval" on the market as a tranquilliser in April 1958 and marketed it until 1962. Chemie Grünenthal was reckless. It had not tested the effect on pregnant women or animals to see if it could cross the placental barrier. It ignored early warnings. The wife of one of its own employees had given birth to a baby without ears 10 months before it puts its poison on the market. It made no difference. Nor did warning signs of deformed births and nerve damage from Australia.

It produced sales leaflets for doctors stressing the drug's safety. It engaged – bribed might be a better word – compliant doctors who vouched for it though they did not know how it worked. A testimonial appeared in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology signed by Dr Ray Nulson Cincinnati, Ohio.

Eventually, he gave evidence in Germany that he had not tested the drug on pregnant women at all and was not even the author of the article. It had been written for him by an employee of the renowned American company, Richardson-Merrell in Cincinnati, a CG licensee. And the employee, like others around the world, had relied on Chemie Grünenthal which had itself done no tests on the effect on a foetus .

-------------------
To think they lock up people for ganja.

[niyad]

1. and let us not forget sherri finkbine, whose situation so outraged the anti-choicers

(see starred section)
Sherri Finkbine

Sherri Finkbine (born Sherri Chessen in 1932) is an American television actress.

Finkbine was known as Miss Sherri on the local Phoenix, Arizona, version of the franchised children's show, Romper Room. The Finkbine Case began in London, England in 1961, when her husband was chaperoning sixty-four high school students on a European tour. He obtained some Thalidomide and carried the remainder home. Finkbine took thirty-six of the pills in the early stages of her pregnancy. Neither she nor her husband was aware, until July 1962, that the pills contained Thalidomide.[1]
y

In 1962, when Finkbine was pregnant with her fifth child, she had been taking Thalidomide, a drug which if taken by a pregnant woman, causes the fetus(es) within her to become deformed while in utero.[2] Finkbine's physician[who?] strongly recommended that she obtain a therapeutic abortion,[3] the only type of abortion that was permitted in Arizona at the time. Finkbine contacted a friend at the Arizona Republic to tell her story, so that other women who were taking Thalidomide would be warned. Although Finkbine had been assured anonymity, her identity was not kept secret. [4]

Following the paper's publication of Finkbine's story, the hospital at which she planned to have the abortion performed, wary of the publicity, sought assurance that it would not be prosecuted.[5] When such assurance was not forthcoming, the scheduled abortion was canceled. When Finkbine's physician asked for a court order to proceed with the abortion, Finkbine and her husband became public figures,[6][7] receiving letters and phone calls in opposition to her requested abortion. A few letters included death threats,[3] and the FBI was brought in to protect her.[8] She also lost her job at the TV station.[9] Finkbine’s case was dismissed by Judge Yale McFate, who found that he didn’t have the authority to make a decision on the matter. [4]
Swedish abortion

Finkbine attempted to go to Japan to obtain the abortion, but was denied a visa by the Japanese Consul.[10][11] She and her husband then flew to Sweden where she obtained a successful and legal abortion, which caused a minor controversy. The abortion panel of the Royal Swedish Medical Board granted Finkbine's request for an abortion on August 17, 1962, to safeguard her mental health.[12] The operation was performed the following day.[1]
The Swedish obstetrician who performed the abortion told Finkbine that **********the fetus had no legs and only one arm and would not have survived. It was too badly deformed to be identified as a boy or a girl.******[13] In 1965, Finkbine had another baby, a healthy girl

. . . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherri_Finkbine





fifty years ago, aug 18 1962

. . . .

Finkbine had been promised anonymity, but her identity was exposed and her story created a media firestorm. Limited by abortion laws and fearing the publicity, hospitals in the United States denied Finkbine abortion services. She asked the Arizona Superior Court for immunity from prosecution if she obtained an abortion in Arizona. At that time, Arizona law allowed abortions only if the mother’s life was in danger. Judge Yale McFate dismissed Finkbine’s case, arguing that there was no legal controversy and that he didn’t have the authority to make a decision on the matter. Finkbine was finally able to obtain an abortion in Sweden on August 18, 1962. It was confirmed at the time of the abortion that her child would have been severely deformed.
. . . .

http://blog.advocatesaz.org/2012/08/15/sherri-finkbines-abortion-its-meaning-50-years-later/#more-4162

[riderinthestorm]

4. A perfect storm and a timely reminder in this era where women's rights are under attack. nt

[malaise]

6. That's the first time I've seen this horrific tragedy

What a mess

[lunatica]

17. I remember when the first stories about the deformed babies was published

I was a kid. I can still see the photographs which are seared into my brain.

"Towards the end of the fifties, children began to be born with shocking disabilities. It was not immediately obvious what the cause of this was. Probably the most renowned is Pharcomelia, the name given to the flipper-like limbs which appeared on the children of women who took thalidomide. Babies effected by this tragedy were given the name 'Thalidomide Babies'. "

http://www.chm.bris.ac.uk/motm/thalidomide/first.html

[obamanut2012]

10. Sissy Spacek and Aidan Quinn starred in a movie about her case

Netflix it. Excellent. I think it was a Showtime or HBO movie.

[WinkyDink]

13. I have never forgotten her. I remember her and the plane.

http://www.gettyimages.ie/detail/news-photo/american-television-host-sherri-finkbine-and-her-husband-news-photo/3159439

[hedgehog]

2. The next time someone complains about government regulations, just say

thalidomide.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Oldham_Kelsey

[raccoon]

24. +1000. nt

[zbdent]

3. A case of strict regulations working for America, as I see it ...

[Petrushka]

5. "...licensed its manufacture worldwide as a safe sleeping drug for mothers in pregnancy." ???

Hm-m.
If I remember correctly, Thalidomide was supposedly a safe drug prescribed for morning sickness.

[Doremus]

7. My brothers' friend was a thalidomide baby

And she said her mother took it to help prevent miscarriage.

[laundry_queen]

25. I'm pretty sure that was DES

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diethylstilbestrol

I used to get the 2 confused as well.

[malaise]

8. Yes that's how they sold it

[Petrushka]

26. One of my nephews is married to a woman who was a thalidomide baby.

Now, in her late 40s or early 50s, she spends most of her days in bed, in constant pain, and on God-only-knows how many "new" prescription medications.

[malaise]

28. And most of them never received a dime in compensation

I swear the wrong people are in prison

[obamanut2012]

9. Thank Frances Oldham Kelsey for why this barely touched Americans

Compared to other countries.


"Frances Kathleen Oldham Kelsey, Ph.D., M.D., (born 24 July 1914) is a pharmacologist, most famous as the reviewer for the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) who refused to authorize thalidomide for market because she had concerns about the drug's safety. Her concerns proved to be justified when it was proven that thalidomide caused serious birth defects. Kelsey's career intersected with the passage of laws strengthening the FDA's oversight of pharmaceuticals."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Oldham_Kelsey



Dr. Kelsey is still alive btw.

[malaise]

16. Thank you Frances Kelsey

[obamanut2012]

19. +1!

[Alameda]

11. There has been, and still is a huge cover up here

Has there ever been a accurate account of how many birth defects were caused by it? We see the obvious effects, but there are always more subtle ones not easily detected, what about those?

[WinkyDink]

12. Meanwhile, those who now question certain drugs/procedures are called "tin-foil-hatters."

What will be printed in 2072?

http://shine.yahoo.com/parenting/prevent-autism-160900764.html

[Hydra]

31. Questioning the "experts"

Is always considered bad behavior- especially when those "experts" never did the scientific legwork to support the positions taken.

If we make it to 2072, I think there will be a pall on this era- a kind of mini-dark age will be agreed to have happened where the truth was not only impossible, it was undesirable by most people.

Scary, huh?

[Ichingcarpenter]

14. And many think that 'a coverup' would be impossible for sixty years

I can name a few more that are coverups and truth has been hidden for the last
60 years.

[Shankapotomus]

15. Does anyone know if thalidomide was still in use

after or around 1966-67?

edit: nevermind. it's on wiki. thanks!

[NV Whino]

18. A statue

Oh well, that makes everything all right then.

[malaise]

22. NOT

Very sad

[dballance]

20. Did you ever see the documentary on Bonnie Consolo?

She was a woman without arms due to thalidomide but adapted to live life. She was able to drive her car and take care of her family. It was actually a very inspiring story of overcoming obstacles.

[malaise]

21. Never saw that

I must look for some of these movies and documentaries

[NV Whino]

23. No but I had a professor at SF State who was a thalidomide baby

Arms cut off just below the elbow (if I remember correctly). Great teacher who introduced me to great women in literature.

[SIDURI]

27. Americans Dr Frances Kelsey and Sherri Finkbine deserve a statue in the US

One for keeping it out of this country and the other for speaking out about her own case so that other women would be alerted to the danger if they had obtained the drug abroad. These were/are courageous American women.

I don't believe there has been a cover-up in the US. It is simply that the populace as a whole is pathetically ignorant of the history of public health.

I remember the last great polio epidemic and how it killed and maimed children; I remember that no public school was without a couple of kids stumping along in heavy braces and boots. Kids in wheelchairs were not in public schools. The really unlucky survivors lay in "iron lungs."

Yet it is possible to generate an enormous online flame war in some places by standing up for vaccinations for infants and children -- because my fellow citizens have not been taught the rudiments of the history of public health and they simply have no idea what they are talking about.

Thalidomide? I remember that, too. The weekly LIFE magazine was where you could find photos not only of hospital wards with rows of kids in iron lungs from polio, but photos of babies without arms and legs from Thalidomide. I was very young, but that kind of thing made a major impression on me.

There's no need for a cover-up in the good old USA when people are simply bloody ignorant of science. The information is in the library, if nothing else. However, it should be taught in every grade of public school.

Oddly enough, the drug that did so much damage to fetuses was repurposed a couple of decades later to fight leprosy. With big fat warning labels, you bet. But it turned out to have a use after all.

Siduri

[malaise]

29. Excellent post

I have no doubt that another public health crisis will force a rethink on matters science and preventive health care.

and welcome to DU

[SIDURI]

30. Thank you, malaise

backatcha

Siduri