12,000 babies born deformed; new you.

THALIDOMIDE was originally marketed in the late 1950s as a treatment for morning sickness in pregnant women. It was only when babies began being born disabled that the dangers became apparent. The catastrophe was a landmark in the development of safer systems for approving drugs.

It went on sale as a treatment for morning sickness in 1958 in more than 40 countries and within a few years had caused deformities in 12,000 babies of whom 5,000 survived into childhood - 450 of them in the UK.

In Britain the most commonly prescribed drug containing Thalidomide was Distaval, manufactured by the Distillers Company and was taken off the market in 1961 and banned the following year.

The first compensation was paid in 1968 and in 1973 the Thalidomide Trust was set up, providing a pounds 20m fund with the average paid to victims of around pounds 13,000 a year.

Thalidomide was first created in West Germany by a drug company which was unsuccessfully attempting to develop an anti-histamine when they noticed the drug acted as an effective tranquilliser and painkiller. When it became publicly available in 1957, it was heralded as a treatment for insomnia, coughs, colds and headaches.

It was discovered that the drug also had an effect on morning sickness and thousands of pregnant women took the drug to relieve their symptoms.

It was soon noticed that the number of children born with stunted arms had markedly increased in Europe and a link was made to women who had taken Thalidomide to combat morning sickness Medical interest in Thalidomide has never completely disappeared and the drug is experiencing a resurgence of interest. It's involved in trials for several serious conditions, including tuberculosis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, lupus, leprosy, macular degeneration, HIV and Aids, and various cancers.