SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT:
“WONDER DRUG” LAUNCHED 06/27/2023
How Many Thalidomide babies Were born in the US?
Every source from 1962 through 2019 has quoted an incorrect number of “thalidomide babies” born in the United States. FDA records investigated by journalist Jennifer Vanderbes suggest that dozens of babies were never identified or officially counted.
The official FDA count released in the 1960s was seventeen thalidomide babies born in the United States. Nine of them were born to mothers who took samples made by American drug companies. Eight other mothers said they obtained the drug in other countries.
There were many more. In 2023, Random House released WONDER DRUG: THE SECRET HISTORY OF THALIDOMIDE IN AMERICA AND ITS HIDDEN VICTIMS, detailing the previously unreported suspicions raised by the original FDA investigation.
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Thalidomide in the USA: Seeking a Life of Dignity and Independence
A few of approximately 150 self-identified survivors we have located since 2016
Bonnie: born in Illinois in 1962
JoJo: born in New York in 1962
Jean: born in Ohio in 1962
Laura: born in California, 1958
Darren: born in Missouri in 1962
Steve: born in New Jersey, 1962
Gwen: born in Ohio in 1962
Burt: born in Wisconsin in 1957
Kim: born in Pennsylvania in 1959
Jan: born in Oklahoma in 1962
Tawana: born in North Carolina in 1963
Gianna: born on a US Military Base in 1962
John: born in Mississippi in 1959
Terrie: born in 1964
Bobbie:
Leslie: born in Maryland, 1959
Marta: born in New York in 1961
Randall: born on a US military base, Madrid, Spain, 1958
Latest News
New book from Random House will tell the true story of thalidomide in America for the first time
Jennifer Vanderbes, author of "WONDER DRUG: the Secret History of Thalidomide in America and its Hidden Victims"Award-winning author Jennifer Vanderbes discovered the existence of a growing community of US survivors who had begun to find each other, and was the first...
Continued thalidomide research will honour survivors and help future patients
by Neil Vargesson; printed originally in The Press and Journal, November 29, 2021 In late November 1961, the controversial drug thalidomide was withdrawn from the market. It had been approved as a safe and effective sedative in 1957 and was later shown to be useful in...
German family behind Thalidomide apologises to victims
FROM THE IRISH TIMES, NOVEMBER 29, 2021, by Derek Scally in Berlin, Olivia Kelly, Dublin Editor. Photo by Nick Bradshaw The Government is coming under increasing pressure to issue a State apology to Thalidomide survivors after the German family behind the drug...
USTS launches campaign to find survivors
This week, US Thalidomide Survivors launches a nationwide Facebook campaign to try to locate -- as many as possible -- thalidomide survivors in our country! The campaign consists of two Facebook posts, featuring two of our non-profit organization officers (Gwen...
Podcast: Neil Vargesson on “Thalidomide –The Drug and Woman That Changed the FDA Forever”
In a recent Inside Out Quality podcast, Neil Vargesson (who was part of our USTS Online Speaker Series in 2020) was the guest, alongside Justine Peterson, P.A. They covered an overview of Thalidomide and its launch in Europe in the late 1950s. Clinical trials weren't...
British journalist, Sir Harold Evans, dies at 92
Known worldwide to Thalidomide survivors as a hero -- the journalist who led the ground-breaking investigation into Thalidomide in Europe -- Sir Harold Evans has died of congestive heart failure. In the 60s and 70s, and indeed all his life, Sir Harold Evans fought to...
From Our Blog
Book Review: WONDER DRUG
This book for me has been 61 years in the making. I am a character in the book — honestly, I really am. And so are a lot of my friends from U.S. Thalidomide Survivors, a nonprofit formed only a few years ago in 2018. This book is us. This book literally helped us find...
Why we had to make “Thalidomide in the USA: the Forgotten Survivors”
The fact that the world still thinks there were no -- or very few -- thalidomide survivors born in the US is still a source of amazement for me. We have done an exceptional job, I feel, of documenting our story in this website, and traffic has increased each month. US...
A 60th anniversary, and “Prescribing Horror” — a week for thalidomide
It has been a week in the thalidomide world. November 27 marked the 60th anniversary of the market withdrawal of Contergan (the German trademark name for thalidomide). This anniversary was commemorated by the German Association of People affected by Thalidomide...