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During the late 1950’s, a German pharmaceutical company, Grunenthal, launched the drug thalidomide across 46 countries all around the world. The drug was said to be a cure for pregnant mothers suffering from morning sickness, however it produced horrific deformities in some of the children who were given birth to by the women who had taken this medication.

50 years on and victims are still waiting for adequate compensation from the German firm for their ‘man made’ condition.

Campaigners believe that thalidomide was responsible for up to 100,000 babies deaths whilst still in the womb, with nearly half of the 10,000 babies born alive, dieing in the first year of their life.

Those that survived were left to grow up with a variety of disabilities ranging from short limbs and flipper like arms, to toes sprouting from the hip area. Others were born deaf and blind.

Two campaigners, Gary Skyner and Freddie Astbury are determined to help to secure a compensation pay out from Grunenthal of £1 million spread over ten years, for each of the 3,500 worldwide surviving victims.

Skyner and Astbury are well known figures amongst those who fight for the thalidomide rights movement, with Skyner saying, “Let me give you an analogy. We’re like armed robbers. We smash the place up, put everyone in the vaults, and tell the manager that we’re going to make a cup of tea while he tries to remember the combination for the safe.”

However, after arranging in 2006 to meet with the managing director of the UK subsidiary of Grunenthal, Chris Matijasevic, the meeting was cancelled 10 days before it was due to take place with Matijasevic citing ‘urgent matters’ preventing him from be available to meet ‘for the foreseeable future’

The pair then approached German ambassador, Wolfgang Ischinger to question why British people suffering from the effects of thalidomide received such a negative attitude from Grunenthal. Despite being sympathetic about their plight, further discussions with Ischinger were short lived which came as no real surprise to the campaigners.

Thalidomide victims have become used to their arguments being ignored by the firms who promoted the medication and by the governments that accepted without question, Grunenthals claims that they were unaware of the devastating effects the drug would have.

Skyner said, “This is bigger than 9/11 in terms of the numbers affected, but it’s not sexy because we weren’t killed or maimed on the same day. And now we’re older and uglier, people don’t want to know.”

The majority of cases of babies dieing in the womb, at an early age or being born with deformities occurred in Germany, but there were 490 victims eventually identified in Britain.

Strenuous attempts by the families of victims to win compensation were made in the 1960’s, but Distillers, the UK distributor of thalidomide caused a national outcry when they only offered a small compensation package to sufferers. A better settlement was eventually reached.

Currently in the UK victims receive, on average £18,000 a year in support which is linked to the severity of the disability. This is far more than sufferers get in other countries, with Italy, Spain and Austria offering no financial compensation at all. In Germany, where there are five times the number of people afflicted by the effects of thalidomide, there maximum annual payment is just £4,000.

On April 3rd 2008, thalidomide victims from all over the world will descend on the German embassy in London for a rally to mark the 50th anniversary of the drugs introduction to the UK.