29 October 2014
Victory for campaigners in „forgotten thalidomide“ battle
A MOTHER is celebrating one of the first victories in her campaign to unearth the truth behind “the forgotten Thalidomide”.
At a debate in the House of Commons last week, the parliamentary under-secretary of state for health, George Freeman, announced that while there would be no public inquiry into the use of the drug Primdos, the government would set up an independent panel of medical experts to look into the drug, including representatives from the campaign group.
This assurance is a victory for campaigners who feel that, by having fully independent medical experts examine the incidence of birth defects in children of women were given the drug as a hormonal pregnancy test, it will pave the way for a full public inquiry into the issue.
The panel will also examine records unearthed in Kew national archives that relate to doctors’ fears over their liability in prescribing the drug.
Chris Gooch, of Carnarvon Avenue, Enfield, who believes her daughter Emma had birth defects due to the drug, told the Advertiser: “Things are looking good. We want to know the make-up of that panel and we will monitor that. There will be independent medical experts and they have agreed that we can have an input.
“They can also look at the evidence that we have collected.”
Her constituency MP, Nick de Bois, chairs the all-party group on hormone pregnancy testing.
In the debate, he told the Commons: “Primodos contained a higher concentration of hormones than the morning-after pill but was given to pregnant women.
“Questions urgently need to be asked; it seems like nothing has been learned from the Thalidomide tragedy.
“Hopefully politicians will now come together and something can be done.”
He added: “On June 23, 1967, the Medical Research Council said ‘it looks like it could be another Thalidomide story’. “Manufacturer Schering’s own specialist advice in the UK raised doubts.”
The drug company stopped recommending that it be used to test for pregnancy in 1970 but still continued to manufacture it, marketing it as treating amenorrhoea – a condition where menstruation has stopped in women.
However, it wasn’t taken off shelves until 1977.
In a statement, Bayer, the company who now own Schering said: “Since the discontinuation of the legal action in 1982, no new scientific knowledge has been produced which would call into question the validity of the previous assessment of there being no link between the use of Primodos and the occurrence of such congenital abnormalities.
“We are aware of the decision for a review by an independent panel and we await further information on the scope and timelines for this review going forward.”
18 June 2014
Birth Defects from Primodos
MP takes fight against pregnancy drug to parliament
An MP from Bolton will lead the fight for a public inquiry into a pregnancy drug that hundreds of people say ruined their lives.
Bolton South East MP Yasmin Qureshi formed an all-party parliamentary group to “bring justice” for victims, today she will hand in a petition to Downing Street.
The hormone drug Primodos was given to women in the UK by GPs in the 1960s and 1970s as a pregnancy test. But campaigners claim it caused deformities and long-term health problems something the drug maker has always denied.
Ms Qureshi will present the petition on the floor of the commons before handing it to number 10 with a number of alleged victims.
=> Speech by Marie Lyon, chair of the association for children damaged by hormone pregnancy testing
more info: Primodos victims demand apology and compensation from Bayer Schering
Sky News: Primodos Row: Watchdog Took Years To Warn GPs