Thalidomide Disaster- Warning to Pregnant Moms about Untested Drugs and Vaccines
Untested Sleeping Pill drug given to Pregnant Moms in the 1960′s produced deformed babies.
Appalling reports continued to roll in. So far as is known, close to 8,000 babies have been born deformed because their mothers used a sleeping-pill-tranquilizer called thalidomide (TIME, Feb. 23). All this added up to the greatest prescription disaster in medical history. Thanks to the intuition of the Food and Drug Administration’s Dr. Frances Kelsey,* the U.S. has got off lightly because the drug was never licensed for general use. In the half dozen reported U.S. cases of birth malformations due to thalidomide, the drug was obtained from abroad. Even so, the testing and marketing of new drugs in the U.S. are now almost certain to get close federal regulation.
“President Kennedy led off his press conference last week with a demand for “additional protection to American consumers from harmful or worthless drug products. The United States has the best and most effective food and drug law of any country in the world . . .Nevertheless, the drug was given to many patients on an investigational basis.”
Thalomide Kids born in the 60's with No Arms and Deformities from an Untested Drug
“Along with the application came a sheaf of reports on years of animal testing and human use of the drug in Europe. There was no hint that the drug had any undesirable side effects, and Merrell pressed hard for quick approval. But Dr. Kelsey was puzzled because the drug did not put animals to sleep. She wondered about other possible differences between its effects in animals and in man. Dr. Kelsey asked Merrell for more tests.”
From Time Magazine Archives the article continues to explain that :
While she waited, Dr. Kelsey chanced on a British report that thalidomide might cause a tingling neuritis in some patients. From World War II work on antimalarial drugs, she suspected that this minor effect on adults might signal a more serious effect on the unborn. But not until nearly ten months later, in the last days of November 1961, did German reports link thalidomide with the European epidemic of seal-like, limbless babies.
Though Dr. Kelsey had kept Kevadon off the U.S. market for more than a year, this did not mean that no U.S. doctors were using the drug. (It was licensed in Canada, where at least 56 cases of deformed babies have been reported.) Last week Merrell reported that instead of the 100 or so U.S. physicians previously estimated to have got samples of the drug “for investigational use only,” 1,231 had received Kevadon. How much of the drug each doctor got and used was unknown, so there was no way of estimating how many of the terrible blue tablets were still around. (In December 1961, the company warned U.S. doctors not to give Kevadon to women who might be or might become pregnant. In March 1962, Merrell called back all Kevadon tablets.)
N1H1 Vaccine- Thalidomide Returns -Drug Experiments in 2009
Abortion Journey. New York City reported the first U.S. death of a thalidomide-deformed baby. Psychiatrist Richard H. Hoffmann imported the pills by mail from a German drug house for one patient, then gave it to others. One of these became pregnant. Her baby, born a fortnight ago, was severely malformed and lived only 41 minutes.
Pills bought in Europe by her husband alarmed the Arizona housewife whose daily misgivings made headlines across the U.S. last week. A Phoenix judge dismissed Mrs. Sherri Finkbine’s plea that the Arizona law permit an abortion in her case. Resolved to have an abortion, she prepared to go overseas for it.
On the Spot. The anguish of parents put European governments on the spot. In West Germany, health departments were making plans to train 2,500 or more deformed children and to fit them with artificial limbs. In Britain, Socialist Lady Summerskill asked the government to consider legalizing abortions. It refused. In Belgium, a young couple and their doctor were in jail, awaiting trial on a charge that they murdered a malformed thalidomide baby with an overdose of another sleep-inducing drug.
One result of the thalidomide crisis has been to increase demands for better supervision of drugs. Though the World Health Organization has no power to impose any rules, it would like to serve as a clearinghouse for information. In several countries there were moves to require, by law, that manufacturers do more testing in animals before they offer a new drug for the market. For any drug that might be taken by a pregnant woman, there will be emphasis on testing in pregnant animals of several species.
Cambridge University’s Dr. D. H. M. Woollam offered this universal prescription: “In the present state of our knowledge, the only safe course is to bar absolutely the use of new drugs by women who are believed to be in the early stage of pregnancy.”
* Who this week receives the President’s Award for Distinguished Civilian Service.
* Thalidomide was made or marketed, alone or in combination with other drugs, in a dozen countries under 50 trade names, notably Contergan (West Germany), Distaval (Britain), Softenon (Portugal, Belgium and Austria).
The Above Article was issued on: August 10, 1962 by Time Magazine and is currently partnered with CNN. It is suprising that CNN is not advising pregnant mothers to stay away from this swine Flu vaccine.
That the US barred the use of “new drugs” on women who are pregnant should give us enough proof not to give pregnant mothers any vaccines let alone one as dangerous as the H1N1 Virus Vaccine.
Gulf War Vets Return after Chemical Vaccines-2004 Produced Deformed Babies
One can wonder when President Obama will follow President Kennedy’s demands for safer drugs rather than rubber stamping this unsafe vaccine. If Obama has not learned anything from history-he is doomed to repeat it.
TAGS: untested drugs given to pregnant moms, 1962 US Laws on drugs given to pregnant mothers, CNN -Time Magazine partners, August 10 1962 Time Magazine Article on Thalidomide Drugs given to pregnant mothers, H1N1 Vaccine Untested Drugs, H1N1 Danger to Pregnant mothers, US backtracks on Safe Drugs for Pregnant Mothers, President Kennedy demanded safety for American consumers, President Obama does not protect pregnant mothers.
I’ve found that $$$ seems to be the bigger bone in Obama’s Pocket. Certainly not human welfare, deformities and/or the poisons he allows to be produced.
Thanks to the intuition of the Food and Drug Administration’s Dr. Frances Kelsey, the U.S. has got off lightly because the drug was never licensed for general use? Thalidomide was marketed since 1957. Kelsey was only appointed to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after the 30 April- 1 May 1960 Düsseldorf Congress of neurologists warning of the dangers of thalidomide.