Was thalidomide man-made

Answer 1

THE FIRST CONTRIBUTOR ARGUED:

Thalidomide was man-made by the two inventors called Dr.W.Kunz and Dr.H.Keller.

This appalling drug was made in Germany.

THIS CONTRIBUTOR CALLS HIMSELF THE SECOND CONTRIBUTOR AND REPLIES:

A distinction should be made between the thalidomide drug and the thalidomide scandal.

Yes, the thalidomide DRUG was man-made

But not necessarily in Germany.

It may have been made in the United States of America, France or even the United Kingdom of Northern Ireland and Great Britain. (1)

The thalidomide SCANDAL was however government-made.

BEFORE 10 APRIL 2010, THE SECOND CONTRIBUTOR KNEW THAT

The regulators allowed thalidomide on the market in 1957.

At a 30 April - 1 May 1960 Düsseldorf Congress of neurologists, neurologist Dr Ralf Voss warned that thalidomide attacks the nervous system of the mother.

The regulators did not do anything and it was up to the manufacturer of thalidomide, Chemie Grünenthal in Stolberg, Aachen, to withdraw thalidomide from the market on 27 November 1961, that's eighteen months after the warning that thalidomide attacks the nervous system of the mother. (2)

ON 10 APRIL 2010

On 10 April 2010, the French daily Le Monde reported that thalidomide was withdrawn in December 1961 and that two years before that date, many German doctors warned that thalidomide attacked the nervous system of the mother. (3)

This would mean that the thalidomide alarm was raised in December 1959.

And the regulators let it on the market until December 1961.

That's twenty-four months, right?

THE STORY GOES

The story goes that a young Canadian-born doctor, named Frances Oldham Kelsey, managed to convince the USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) not to allow thalidomide, known in the USA as "kevadon", into the USA.

The problem with this story is that Kelsey was only appointed to the FDA in 1960 (4)

and that, oh wonder, the first drug she had to examine at the FDA was ... kevadon.

That examination of thalidomide by FDA bureaucrat Kelsey started on 12 September 1960 (4 and 5).

That examination thus started after the 30 April - 1 May 1960 Düsseldorf warning.

(And the real thalidomide warning was in December 1959, says Le Monde.)

THE STORY THEN CONTINUES

Dr. Frances Kelsey, then a medical officer with the fledgling Food and Drug Administration, [...] shows immense courage by staunchly refusing to grant permission for the release of the medication in the United States. She does so despite enormous pressure both from her superiors and the American pharmaceutical company that has MILLIONS OF THALIDOMIDE TABLETS READY FOR MASS DISTRIBUTION. But for her, a calamity of unprecedented magnitude, a consequence of, " …gigantic marketing plans…" and an "…absence of scientific discipline…" would have been inevitable. [capitalisation by the second contributor.] (6)

The second contributor asks:

Did the so-called regulators in the countries where thalidomide had been allowed also have millions of thalidomide tablets ready for mass distribution

and does that explain why

these so-called regulators NEVER reacted to the December 1959 warning, by removing thalidomide from the market,

but let the heroes from Chemie Grünenthal in Stolberg, Aachen take the initiative of that withdrawal in December 1961?

CONCLUSION

The thalidomide scandal was made by guv'mints to justify or legitimate their welfare states.

Or was the drug really woman-made in 1938 by Frances Oldham Kelsey? (7)

No distinction should then be made between the thalidomide drug and the thalidomide scandal?