Marian Harkin, an Irish MEP, has said that survivors from the thalidomide disaster need more support and compensation.
Thalidomide was routinely prescribed as an antiemetic for expectant women, and tens of thousands of women worldwide were exposed to it during the 50s and 60s.
Back in those decades, the administration of drugs to pregnant women was not strictly regulated, as doctors did not believe that compounds could penetrate the placenta barrier and harm the fetus.
However, thalidomide proved to cause devastating teratogenic effects, which led to the death or severe malformation of tens of thousands of fetuses.
Nevertheless, despite the documented cases of foetal malformation or death, the drug continued to be sold under different commercial names across parts of Europe. It was still in use in some places as late as the 1970s, for example.
Now, Ms. Harkin said that the EU Parliament must ensure that those people living with the terrible effects of the drug must be properly compensated.
She said “What we’re trying now to do, and it’s late in the day, is too final get some sort of a package in place, both at national level, individual governments, and also with the company to make sure that those people who remain alive, who have thalidomide, finally get some kind of adequate compensation that will allow them to meet their very significant health needs.”