Thalidomide is Back, and History Repeats Itself
There were plenty of doctors who still stood by its magical ability to sedate people in times of extreme pain. After all, it became a best-selling drug for good reason. In 1964, a man in Jerusalem named Dr. Jacob Sheskin was helping patients with leprosy. They could not sleep, because their pain was so overwhelming. He had some Thalidomide, which he had saved for the two years after the ban. After all, when men take the drug, there is really no negative side-effect, since they are not the ones bearing children. Leprosy patients also have very little left to lose, since the disease is incredibly deadly.
Once Dr. Sheskin gave the Thalidomide to the leprosy patients, they were able to have a good night’s sleep for the first time in years. The human body does most of its healing while we sleep, so it is vital for any sick person to rest. However, there was an even better result than Sheskin ever anticipated. Miraculously, their leprosy began to improve, and their skin finally began to heal. Years later, scientific research discovered what Thalidomide is really doing to the human body. It cuts off blood flow to the body’s cells, so it stopped the leprosy from growing on the skin. There was also reason to believe that it may help cut off blood flow to cancerous tumors.
Obviously, cutting off blood flow is harmful for a body that is growing a baby. Grown men who take the pill and have restricted blood flow in their body are obviously not going to suffer the same negative consequences as a pregnant woman. Surprisingly, even though the drug had ruined their lives, the victims of the Thalidomide Society decided that if it could help people, there was no reason for them to say “no” to the drug returning to society. The courts decided that Thalidomide should come back as a means to treat certain conditions.
But not every country is under strict surveillance as the United States. According to the BBC, there are over 30,000 new cases of people catching leprosy in Brazil every single year. Desperate for a cure, people quickly agreed to taking this “miracle drug”, Thalidomide. Even though Thalidomide was a huge news story in the English-speaking world in the 1950’s and 60’s, people in South American had no idea that this drug had a history of serious birth defects. 100 new cases of children born with deformities because of their mothers taking the drug have appeared since 2005. Now, a new generation of families must live with the struggles of being born with special needs. The Brazilian government forced drug distributors to print photos of deformed babies on the front of the boxes of Thalidomide.
Where did we find this stuff? Here are our sources:
What’s happened to Thalidomide babies? Frederick Dove. BBC. 2011.
Thalidomide. Science Museum.
The Shadow of the Thalidomide Tragedy. New York Times. 2013.
Mercy Gets The Verdict. 1962. British Pathe.
Grunenthal Group Apologizes to Thalidomide Victims. New York Times. 2012.
Brazil’s New Generation of Thalidomide Babies. Angus Crawford. BBC. 2013.