Australia to apologise 50 years after ‘Thalidomide tragedy’

Australia will issue a national apology to all citizens affected by the "Thalidomide tragedy", Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday, more than half a century after babies were born with birth defects when mothers took the morning sickness pill.

Thalidomide was the active ingredient in a sedative widely distributed to many mothers in Australia and around the world in the early 1960s. It was found to cause malformation of limbs, facial features and internal organs in unborn children.

"The Thalidomide tragedy is a dark chapter in the history of our nation and the world," Albanese said.

"The survivors, their families, friends and carers have advocated for this apology with courage and conviction for many years. This moment is a long overdue national acknowledgement of all they have endured and all they have fought for."

The Thalidomide scandal triggered a worldwide overhaul of drug-testing regimes and boosted the reputation of the US Food and Drug Administration, which proved a lone voice in refusing to approve the drug, though it was distributed in the US for testing. In 2010 the British government apologised to victims.

Thalidomide, developed by the German firm Gruenenthal, killed an estimated 80,000 children worldwide before they were born, and 20,000 were born with defects.

In 2012 an Australian woman, who was born without arms and legs after her mother took thalidomide, won a multi-million dollar settlement from Diageo, the local distributor. In 2010, Diageo agreed to make an A$50m (R596m at current exchange rates) payment to 45 victims in Australia and New Zealand.

The Australian prime minister  will deliver the apology in the parliament on November 29. There are 146 Thalidomide survivors registered with the government, though the exact number of affected is unknown.

Albanese said: "In giving this apology, we will acknowledge all those babies who died and the families who mourn them, as well as those who survived but whose lives were made so much harder by the effects of this terrible drug."

Reuters