Thalidomide was used in forty six countries throughout the 1950s and 1960s. It was first marketed as a tranquilizer, then as a medication for anxiety, insomnia, and morning sickness. This medication was not properly tested, and negative results were swept under the rug. Somewhere around 10,000 babies were born with birth defects that were directly related to the consumption of this drug during pregnancy. Babies who did not die were left with a host of defects, including the limb defects that most of us are aware of. The limb defects left the babies with flipper-type appendages. There are many support groups for Thalidomide survivors, and there are some pretty famous Thalidomide survivors. One of them that I am most familiar with is Mat Fraser, who played the character Paul on American Horror Story: Freak Show.

I was shocked to learn that this drug had ties to Nazi pharmacology, mostly because it never occurred to me that there was a connection. Obviously, with this drug being introduced in the early 1950s by a German company with former Nazis employed there.... I am embarrassed that I missed the connection, really. As someone who specialized in World War II history and did some extensive studying about IG Farben, Bayer, medical experiments, and what happened to former Nazis, this should not have slipped under my radar. If you are interested in that particular subsection of history, this book is important. I had never heard of Frances Oldham Kelsey, but, thanks to her, the impact of Thalidomide on babies in the United States was greatly diminished. She was suspicious of this drug and did everything under the sun to block the FDA approval, keeping it off the market. The people who used the trial drugs were affected, but mass prescriptions were not given out like they were in other countries.

I had watched a documentary about this before, and I was very excited when I saw this book was coming out. I bought the Audible version, and I burned through this book. I think it was about ten hours to listen to, but the narrator had a decently pleasant voice. The book itself contained a ton of information about how drugs were approved for use in the United States at the time, and the individuals who were instrumental in this particular drug scandal. The author of this book absolutely put work in on the research, and you can tell. It is well put together. If you are interested in man made disasters or drug companies, this book would be a great one to pick up. I really enjoyed it, despite the morbid content.