Thalidomide
I’ve written a post before about Thalidomide in Ireland
Thirty-two people living with the consequences of Thalidomide in Ireland.
Thalidomide, a drug which caused birth deformities, sold to pregnant women between 1958 and 1961.
The story of Thalidomide in Ireland is devastating; a delay in banning its sale after it was known to cause birth defects, to this day paltry compensation and broken promises for the small number of people, the thirty-two people, living with its consequences.
On Tuesday, Carmel Daly McDonnell described very eloquently her struggle.
My mother took just two teaspoons of thalidomide when she was pregnant with me.
She took it once. Someone had recommended it for morning sickness. She would have taken more except it made her so ill.
When I was born with no arms and no legs she never thought of the drug which she had bought over the counter.
By the time she took it, doctors had already been advised not to prescribe it any more, but of course she did not know that. I was born in July 1962. I think the Government’s culpability is even worse in cases like mine because they knew, they had warned doctors, but they didn’t ban it and thalidomide was still sold in chemist shops over the counter.
…
My parents and brothers did everything to help me have as normal a childhood as possible. I have spent my whole life trying to be positive. And in many ways I succeeded. I have a great husband, two lovely sons.
But I am tired now. My health is getting worse and I am terrified. And I am angry that we are not getting what the Government promised our parents so long ago. If we were, my quality of life would be so much better. And things would be much easier for my family, my husband and my children.
…
Now my husband has to be with me 24/7. He cannot work or play golf. He cannot go for a pint with his friends in case I need to go to the toilet. My dignity is gone. I cannot do anything for myself. My husband has to lift me in and out of the shower. I did apply for a toilet which I could use on my own and which would cost about €4,000. I was refused point blank.
If I drop the key when I am trying to put it in the front door, then I am stuck there until someone comes along.
…
I cannot fight any more. I am too old, too tired. I cannot think about what will happen if my wheelchair breaks because I know how long I would have to wait for another one or for it to be repaired. I cannot spend all my time worrying about the future, about what happens if my husband is gone. I am worried all the time.
The full text of Carmel’s story is here.
Yesterday Thalidomide victims handed in a letter to the Taoiseach demanding a State apology for the 32 remaining Irish victims.
Finola Cassidy, spokeswoman for Irish Thalidomide Association (ITA) said the move followed two years of “stagnant” talks with Minister for Health Mary Harney … She said the Government predicted they would all be dead by now and there is no provision for middle age as mobility decreases and pain increases. Some of their members are on as little as €16 per day …
I feel very strongly for the people suffering because of Thalidomide. I am a mother of a boy with Cerebral Palsy (CP). There was nothing I could have done to prevent my son having CP, though I still feel guilty about it.
There was something the Irish government could have done to prevent at least some of the Thalidomide cases.
These 32 people deserve justice. Justice our government is denying them.
Our government – yours and mine.
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I have followed Joe, all through his life so far. He is one of the 32 Thalidomide cases you mention above. He has outlived his parents and has no siblings. Unlike Carmel Daly McDonnell, he is totally dependent on an elderly aunt and a cousin (who gave up their lives in England) to care for all his needs. Tall in stature with a lumbering gait, he is unable to speak making communication very difficult. His frustration now manifests itself in aggression.
He is somebody who really needs help.
Well-voiced, Lily
The Irish government has not only failed to apologise, they’ve reneged on the promises they made (back in the 1970’s), that they would provide all the equipment necessary to help those suffering because of Thalidomide, to lead as normal a life as possible.
Lily, I wrote about this back in 2008 and it’s very sad to learn that the ITA is still fighting for justice…
http://biopsy.wordpress.com/2008/10/12/a-life-of-struggle/
The whistle on thalidomide was blown at a Düsseldorf congress of neurologists on 30 April – 01 May 1960. Thalidomide was taken from the market only on 27 November 1961, that’s eighteen months later, not by the guv’mint which had allowed it in the first place, but by its manufacturer.
http://www.wdr.de/themen/gesundheit/pharmazie/contergan/chronik.jhtml?rubrikenstyle=contergan
At the end of the day, I wonder whether this is not the essence of Carmel’s story in the article about her struggle:
There were countless plaster casts made, prostheses, splints and braces fitted. No one listened when I tried to say that I preferred to use my own limbs. My mother understood but felt powerless to disagree with the so-called professionals.
That’s why they did it [at Heidelberg].
Témoignage thalidomide – Les Monstres de Heidelberg
Originally posted by Ivo Cerckel on September 2nd, 2009
http://bphouse.com/honest_money/etat-belge-assassin-softenon-no-good-and-evil-for-who-hence-thalidomide-i-am-a-thalidomide-monster-because-of-who-thalidomide-shame-non-compensation-thalidomide-victims-of-debt-driven-polit/
Sorry, but Heidelberg and my father made too much of an anarchist of me.
The whistle on thalidomide was blown at a Düsseldorf congress of neurologists on 30 April – 01 May 1960.
Carmel was born in July 1962,
that’s more than TWENTY-SIX MONTHS later.
So more than SEVENTEEN MONTHS after the whistle,
Carmel’s mother could still obtain thalidomide
in chemist shops over the counter.
Why do we need guv’mint?
Sorry, I continue, this time with tears in the eyes.
Video why they needed thalidomide
Posted by Ivo Cerckel on September 27th, 2009
http://bphouse.com/honest_money/2009/09/27/video-why-they-needed-thalidomide/
SNIP
Watch this Canadian video.
Here’s why our Masters did it.
A B-word in the plural comes to mind.
De l’efficacité des prothèses
Date de diffusion : 21 février 1964
http://archives.radio-canada.ca/sante/sante_publique/dossiers/65-865/
UNSNIP
4 Responses to “Video why they needed thalidomide”
SNIP
1. Ivo Cerckel Says:
September 28th, 2009 at 09:19
The video clearly says that (the effects of) thalidomide was (were) known since many years and certainly before 1957.
Oops, I almost forgot:
This comment has, like all comments, been deleted since it was posted:
Thalidomide was definitely known in the year 1938 and [its] defects were noted in Phoenix, AZ (USA) in a medical journal that year. It was known as a cure for {Hansen]’s Disease and made by [RICHARDSON-MERRELL Co.] in [Cincinnati], OH (USA). I don’t know what action was taken, but a young female doctor named Frances Oldham Kersey (or Kelsey) recognized its dangers. Theodore, Princeton, WV/USA
(comment under From The Times April 4, 2008 Thalidomide: 50 years on victims unite to seek more compensation Nigel Hawkes, Health Editor
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article3671815.ece
Now:
CENTRAL NERVOUS SYSTEM EFFECTS OF THALIDOMIDE
J Pharmacol Exp Ther, October 1961
http://jpet.aspetjournals.org/content/134/1/60.full.pdf
(one must pay to read the article for 24 hours)
This article of the Journal of Pharmacology ET says that its authors
Kuhn and Van Maanen are working for the
Department of Pharmacology,
The Wm S. Merrell Co. Div. of RICHARDSON-MERRELL [capitalisation mine], Inc.,
Cincinnati, Ohio.
The note on the first page of the article, page 60 of the volume of the Journal, says that:
Kevadon is the trademark of The Wm. S. Merrell Co., Division of Richardson-Merrell, Inc.,
and
CONTERGAN [capitalisation mine] is the trademark of the National Drug Co. Division of RICHARDSON-MERRELL [capitalisation mine ]Inc., for their brands of thalidomide.
I thought Contergan was the name used for thalidomide in … Germany.
And Richardson-Merrell dared still to say that in October 1961?
Grannymar, every day’s delay in these 32 people getting justice is so wrong. Why ‘our’ government won’t listen and act …
Steph, obviously I wasn’t a blog reader back in 2008. I hadn’t realised you too had written on this subject. We definitely sing from the same hymn-sheet on this subject
Ivo, welcome to the blog. From reading your comments and the various links, I understand you are in the Philippines, living with the effects of thalidomide.
I can understand why you would be angry.