Australia issues national apology to thalidomide scandal survivors

A girl wipes away the tears of a woman affected by the thalidomide tragedy as Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese issues a national apology to survivors Photo: LUCAS KOCH/SHUTTERSTOCK

Australia has apologized to survivors of the thalidomide scandal, 60 years after a Sydney doctor helped reveal a pregnancy “miracle drug” was killing and maiming thousands of babies around the world.

< p>Victims born with deformities and families of children who died wiped away tears as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese spoke in Parliament on Wednesday to acknowledge the government's role in what he called one of the «darkest chapters» in the history of medicine.

“Across the country, doctors, pharmacists and advertising assured expectant mothers that this drug was completely safe for both them and their baby,” he said.

“The terrible cruelty of thalidomide was that – far from being safe – just one dose was enough to cause devastating harm.”

An estimated 80,000 babies worldwide have died as a result of their mothers taking thalidomide, a sedative made in Germany and marketed in the 1950s as a «wonder drug» that could relieve morning sickness, although it was never tested on pregnant women. About 20,000 babies were born with defects including facial paralysis and missing limbs.

Anthony Albanese issues a national apology to all Australians affected due to the thalidomide tragedy at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia. Photo: LUCAS KOCH/SHUTTERSTOCK

At the time, the US Food and Drug Administration was alone in refusing to approve the pill, but in Britain and Australia, where there were no systems for assessing drug safety, doctors began prescribing thalidomide to patients suffering from flu, insomnia and nausea. .

William McBride, an obstetrician, and Pat Sparrow, a midwife, were among the first health workers to raise the alarm after they noticed an increase in the number of babies born with birth defects at Sydney Women's Hospital in 1961 .

Dr McBride wrote to The Lancet that he had observed «what appears to be a very striking impairment of bone development» in 20 per cent of children born to young mothers taking thalidomide.

Mr Albanese told Parliament during his apology that «products and samples in surgeries and shops were not completely recalled or completely destroyed» after the dangers of thalidomide were identified.

The UK government issued an official warning about thalidomide in 1962 , but by that time there had been about 10,000 miscarriages, stillbirths and infant deaths in Britain as a result of the drug. The British government apologized in 2010.

On Wednesday, Canberra announced it would reopen a victim compensation scheme and create a memorial.

“There are no words that can undo what has happened.” suffered, there is no amount of money that can replenish the ledger,” Mr Albanese said. «But Australia's commitment to fairness for all demands that we try.»