On probation
For those who suffered its effects, “thalidomide” is a name that will live in infamy. But the drug has uses, and the American authorities look as though they are about to let it off the leash
IF EVER a drug seemed destined for the dustbin of history, that drug would surely be thalidomide. In the late 1950s and early 1960s it was blithely sold to pregnant women throughout much of the world as a cure for morning sickness. It was also used widely as a sedative. This caused the worst catastrophe ever created by modern medicine, for thalidomide turned out to be a “teratogen”—it induced hideous deformities in the fetuses whose mothers it was intended to help.
This article appeared in the Science & technology section of the print edition under the headline “On probation”
From the September 13th 1997 edition
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