An epidemic of neonatal deformities swept across the globe throughout the ‘50s and ‘60s. Virtually healthy mothers were scratching their heads and begging for answers. Was it genetic? No. Environmental? No. It was something else - a miracle drug that promised expecting mothers a cure for every discomfort that could be experienced during their pregnancy. That drug was called Thalidomide and it was one of the biggest disasters in pharmaceutical history.

 

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Episode Sources:

• Image 1: Children from the thalidomide tragedy (via ABC News)

• Image 2: The R and S enantiomer structures of thalidomide that produce wildly different responses (via Wikipedia)

• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21507989/

• https://www.understandinganimalresearch.org.uk/news/sixty-years-on-the-history-of-the-thalidomide-tragedy

• https://www.dana-farber.org/newsroom/news-releases/2018/after-60-years--scientists-uncover-how-thalidomide-produced-birth-defects/

• https://www.theguardian.com/society/2012/sep/01/thalidomide-scandal-timeline

• https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/23/health/thalidomide-survivors-usa.html

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