Thalidomide tragedy

November 16, 2023

Australia will issue a national apology to all citizens affected by the “Thalidomide tragedy”, more than half a century after babies were born with birth defects when mothers took the morning sickness pill.
Thalidomide was the active ingredient in a sedative widely distributed to many mothers in Australia and around the world in the early 1960s.
It was found to cause malformation of limbs, facial features and internal organs in unborn children.
Thalidomide, developed by the German firm Gruenenthal, killed an estimated 80,000 children around the world before they were born, and 20,000 more were born with defects.