On Eyewitness - a look at the drug that affected the lives of 10,000 babies...the story of Thalidomide. Produced by Sonia Sly.

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Barry De Geest is a vigorous fifty-something man; a talker and a doer.

He's an entrepreneur and a public speaker, is active in the disability sector as an advocate for change - he was involved in making public transport and movie cinemas accessible for wheelchairs, among other things. De Geest has achieved a lot.

He's also the oldest thalidomide survivor in New Zealand. When he was born, the medical profession didn't expect him to survive. The doctors told his mother to forget about him and go have another baby.

But she didn't listen.

Thalidomide was developed in West Germany in the late 1950s. Within a few year it was being prescribed for anxiety, insomnia and gastritis. The drug was sold under several other names such as contergan, Inmunoprin, Distival, Talidex, Talizer, Neurosedyn, Oncothal and Talimyde.

It was also deemed safe during pregnancy and used as a treatment for morning sickness. Barry's mum Anne Kapohe was given a sample by her well-meaning doctor in Ōamaru.

But no one knew then that when ingested in the early stages of pregnancy, the drug had serious side effects and caused severe deformities in unborn children.

These can include shortened limbs and hands and feet without the usual number of fingers and toes. Some babies were missing sexual organs or had damaged and under-developed internal organs. Others were born deaf and blind.

Around 10,000 babies around the world were affected. Grunenthal, the company who developed the drug, are still in operation. On their website, they refer to the "thalidomide tragedy" as "a significant part of our corporate history. Grünenthal's family owners, and the company as a whole, deeply regret the consequences of this tragedy."

Relatively speaking, New Zealand got off lightly. There were only 21 cases here and according to De Geest, the saving grace was our isolation as the drug was not distributed widely.

"Transport services weren't that great in the early sixties so things took a long time to travel around the country," he says.

When Barry was born, his parents were advised to put him into care and let others raise him.

"I would have gone to the Home of Compassion in Wellington and been brought up as an orphan."

De Geest says when the Home closed, many of the residents ended up at another facility in Waipukurau. He's heard stories from there of ill treatment and outright abuse.

"It was an institution so a lot of the staff got away with things that they couldn't in a home." …

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details