Worst drug disaster in history would spread through more than 46 countries and produce up 220000 badly deformed babies worldwide. But historians today single out one birth in 1961 that changed the course of history in hamburg germany linda shield hill and age 23 gave birth to her 1st child her husband wasnt within that time and it wasnt quite there. And then i lay back and was relaxed and some i mean somebody whispered into my ear sure not all right but i was here white awake and i said. Whats got what has happened to my baby is anything but. You know she said just. Lets say. Without any emotion. Just cut short arms and i like a child would have asked possibly i said and auntie growing anymore and she was caught grow this would be like it is now. And then i felt like i was beaten to death. A doctor gave the 1st time mother some friendly advice just get another child. Like forget about him you know. Im a way to get out shortly afterwards lindas husband arrived and gave her some bad news hed been keeping from her 6 weeks earlier his sister had given birth to a baby with similar deformity it looks alike like i watched be something that is the same all rich in the same difficulty the same problem in the background and well find it and well search and we wont stop until we followed the hand not the with. The epidemic of deformed babies began 5 and a half years earlier on Christmas Day 956 with the birth of the 1st victim. In a small town of on germany a mother had taken a new drug called full of them are being developed by a local drug company can be grown into her husband like other grown and talent boys had taken home a sample which he gave to his pregnant wife the baby would be the 1st of 6 for the my babies possibly more born to grin and 1000 workers in the years ahead but the company ignored the Early Warning signals in their midst no thats good riddance old women action didnt investigate didnt talk to mom didnt go to the hospital didnt look at the medical records didnt contact her experts there were multiple shooters for gru told to keep hold last. Short nonimage taken 9 months after the 1st deformed baby was born grown and all launched the loon abide on to the German Market under the brand name contraband going in 1000 aggressive sales force whose motto was succeed at any cost continue to promote the drug cardigan they claimed was a safe sedative especially for pregnant women suffering from morning sickness sales zoomed and so little my became a 2nd best selling drug next to aspirin. But lindas shoulder helen and her husband carl hammond were determined to find out what caused their sons short arms months later they were no closer to finding an answer i know my husband had times when he said. I think we have to get up and i said giving up. Her husband soon contacted a professor of obstetrics dr video kinde lens who had received a few reports of deformed babies my father and professor lance they travel to germany and their old folks bargain and they went from one small village to another and asked are there any children with short legs or short arms spine and those kids were hidden away at the time in the small villages and he asked in restaurants and bars and at the local Police Office and everybody certain no not in our town and then he showed a picture of me and said this is my boy and can i please repeat my question and then they said well at the end of the road there has been a very sad incident and then he went there and drink the darn shot 1st thing he did was showing the picture of means at this is my son diaz who has a kid like this and the people burst into tears and and children and in my childrens were. Pulled out of the day our flight literally. In england was being sold under the brand name. By the countrys Largest Liquor manufacturer the Distillers Company as in germany distillers had received reports of deformed babies but had been assured by green and file that the drug was completely safe. Louise mason was one of 533 little my babies born in england over a 6 and a half year period the weans only learned about the circumstances of her birth by reading her fathers bestselling autobiography i havent got any arms and legs and my dad said it was like a Little Flower buds. You know from my arms and from my lips my dad had a look at me. And. He said my god youre not going to let this baby live. And they said yes my mum was only 21 and she will die by doctors to. Put me away and concentrate on having another family. After 11 days in hospital her parents took louise to an institution for Handicapped Children where she would spend the next 18 years of her life but louise was fortunate her father had not asked another doctor to end her life because im questionable by midwives and doctors were killing disabled children in the hospitals and the delivery rooms on a large scale. In britain. In germany. And if theyre probably everywhere else in canada another armless baby was spared by a poor ukrainian family in rural cisco. Years later calvin law learned how horrified his natural parents were when he was born ultimately it was the paternal grandmother who didnt want to have anything to do with us she said youre not going to bring that devil baby home with you hes hes deformed because of a curse. The armless baby wasnt taken home after doctors warned he would never lead a normal life but after 6 weeks an elderly couple jack and hilda law who had already raised their own children volunteered as foster parents and got their 1st look at alan and i took one look and i thought no wonder nobody wants. And the next i went to see him percy had a bath and dressed and hid and looked perfectly. Well although in favor of taking him away with Greater Family about whether. It was a baby with nobody wanted im sure were going to. Turn out ok. My life story shifted the moment that sophie and peter my birth father gave me. That that that is a profound chapter shift in my life because i went to live with the laws. My life became this life. In Cincinnati Ohio and deeply religious Roman Catholic couple with 6 children were expecting another normal birth my mothers story is that when i was born they were not at all prepared and the doctor said joy your baby doesnt have any legs. So she says that she took the baby me and she said well eileen is my 4 leaf clover. I have a sibling who told me that my father cried and that when he came home he handed me to my siblings and everyone got very upset. And they said take it away. Someone ripped off the blankets instead at night a baby or something to that effect thats not our sister. That was what i was taught. As a young child on. People. Eileen cronan was one of several follow the my babies born in cincinnati where an American Drug company Richardson Merrill had their headquarters like the german drug Company Merrill promoted the drug as completely safe even during pregnancy like green and al merrill had no evidence to back this up. Merrill applied to the federal Drug Administration in 1960 for approval to bring sullivan might onto the American Market and was allowed to conduct Clinical Trials on patients across the country now it wasnt a Clinical Trial at all what it was was a Marketing Campaign trumped up to look like a Clinical Trial of michael magazine it is an australian lawyer and former Investigative Reporter who spent years researching these a lot of my disaster what merrill wanted to do was to familiarize doctors with a drug so that once they got approval but would have doctors already to go through with a drug raid to prescribe it like crazy the little mite was now being sold in close to 50 Countries Worldwide in 1961 in australia dr William Mcbride delivered 3 solidify babies in a few months he alerted distillers the british distributor thalidomide but they claim they never received his warnings and pregnant mothers like when the role continued to take the little mite for morning sickness but when her daughter lynette was born when the immediately knew something was wrong when she was born it was just deadly silence in the in the room and i just knew that something must be wrong and now that he said a word its just. Labs are like and any i found lying i said to you that there was a problem you know that you had no arms and legs and. You know it and i gave it to me and she knew she doesnt look very different to what she does name she had sticking up hair in the cutest little face looked up. And down and that i you know its just like i was like im not mean i suppose you know that they know and you know when you looked at her and thought with me youve got to love it you cant you know you can turn into the adult but i said we think shes got some brain damage but we dont know what the state can i just look there are not a system thing now around and you skip brandon says well what hypothetical. They told me that i should put you know high in the cheek would be good in 6 months weight lifter there for a weight quote way way to right. Just to get a head around it all and then come back to people and that was really hard going back to the hospital to pick up. In germany grown in 1000 Advertising Campaigns paint here huge dividends the companys owner and executives were making fortunes overnight especially Heinrich Mokhtar going in 1000 research director. During a war mokhtar served as a natty doctor developing back scenes which were tested on jewish prisoners in the book and vowed concentration camps many of whom died after the war mokhtar joined grin and 9 years later he invented thalidomide and received a bonus for every thought in my pill sold worldwide in germany where the pill sold at a rate of 15000000. 00 a month 5000 children of it born before from stolberg germany morley safer report in november 19th 61 just 300 miles from your. Doctor very good lets director of human genetics at the university of about an astounding increase in the number before the baby it used to conduct or a little was because intel sent out 66000 letters to german doctors declaring their drug. 66000 list from atop his own you know its. There was a period where ive been told that the drug was largely responsible for an epidemic of malformations and deaths and theyre telling doctors the Drug Research and it really wasnt until prescott hold of it. And they knew it was going to go public but they finally backed off and agreed. On november 28th 1961 a day after the thalidomide scandal made headlines in west germany. It was withdrawing the drug from the market even a 1st later through spring of 1961 by taking the drug off the market that they would have spent half the buy. In england louise mains and didnt see her parents and 3 siblings for months at a time. I was left alone most of the time my parents had other children theres no way that they could leave them with my nan because my grandpa was oh so they just stopped coming. I went home 3 weeks a year. For week mommy can the summer i make it a christmas im a big easter every holiday was like getting to know your brothers and sisters again. Alvin laws parents decided the best way to get their arm listened to cope with life was to turn his toes into fingers for hours album was given manual task to perform the speech. Granted having the warmth of the exact rather simple disability very complicated disability and id be lying if i did say it was a lot of work a lot of work a lot of time spent by myself very lonely very afraid very frustrated but i think it was the character that was built by my parents especially by like her. That allowed me to not really think that i was all that different. Its not an easy thing to get dressed but. Again it goes back to the basic theory of my life and that is to i have someone look after me or do i look after myself. But more than anything i think its a mindset you know that ok there is a lot of people in our world that have weighed bigger problems than i have so that i have to spend a little extra effort putting my clothes on so for. The moment i started using my toll and my feet and my legs was the same moment i ceased to have a disability. In the United States there would have been thousands of a lot of my babies like album law except for the actions of one woman dr Francis Kelsey a canadian born doctor and pharmacology is had just joined the federal Drug Administration when she received an application to bring thalidomide onto the American Market here was a drug that looked like it should be no problem but at the same time there was just a feeling that. There was something in the leader of the absence of the movement. Was a cause of concern the application came from Richardson Merrill one of americas oldest Drug Companies known years ago for its best selling product vics cough drops their old port on the pressure they contacted the f. D. A. 50 times they went behind a back to his peers they can find a better in writing the threatened level proceedings they pushed and pushed and pushed and she was resolute she was unbelievably tough. Right now that were all at most indebted to dr gail to the relationship and the hope that all of us have all right children in august 1962 president john. F. Kennedy ordered the highest civilian honor an american can receive to dr Francis Kelsey well dr kill she said i need to know more i want to have more i demand to have more the canadian government simply approved it and i believe that was below the standard of what should have been expected from an industrialized. First world. Country like very civilized canada. Continued to be sold in canada for 4 months after it was withdrawn from the German Market the food and drug directorate in ottawa issued no warnings to the public while the drug remained on pharmacy shelves. Most of the miners dont use artificial limbs today but eileen cronan is an exception she wears artificial legs every day to get around. I was born with both legs missing from the knees down according to my mother i did it back to the legs pretty quickly. If you have. Been no artificial legs a lot of things go wrong youve got to go around conducting life and yeah you know youve got a skin infection and youve got a good leg on when youre going to do me i put the leg on i guess thats not always the best thing to do but. Thats what i do. In australia artificial limbs proved to be useless and even dangerous for lynette row these legs when theres on fair lean to walking but theyre terribly dangerous because every step she took she had to rope from start to slide the least little thing on the path she would just fall either straight and. Lynette required the full time care of her devoted parents. For years her mothers nightly routine was always the same. And you know getting up in the north and turning your getting your in then its just sort of that its a constant thing that. I talked to some Young Mothers sometimes and they said if you dont know if you dont think. He has enough shore. In march 967. 00 the owner and 8 executives of grown and the german drug company were charged with criminal negligence premeditated bodily harm and manslaughter. Among the defendants was Heinrich Mokhtar the nasty doctor who made a fortune invented for that in mind one german historian has looked out a short list of grim file staff from the early sixtys and he said its absolutely astonishing that a Small Company should have such a concentration of convective war criminals on it stopped the usual even by the standards of postwar germany. Another child growing of alexakis was audio amorous and thats the war criminal known as the devils chemist ambrose was convicted of war crimes he committed at auschwitz for which he served 4 years in prison but after the war the chemist found no shortage of employers including dow chemical j. Peter grace and the u. S. Armys chemical corps before he became chairman of grain and 1000 board of directors in 1971. The man who hired nancy war criminals like ambrose and was grinning owner herrmann verts verts was a member of the local nattie party in his hometown before the 2nd world war a service for which he was handsomely rewarded by. The Family Companies had actually thrived during the war years because they had a contract from the german army to buy soap and intelligence. They had been supplied with slave workers. They had been basically handed to come and i was on the plague. Both by the jewish owned or jewish control you said no way back it was the personal lawyer for a good 1000 owner herrmann verts but in december 966 noisy burger resigned suddenly became Justice Minister in the province where the trial was being held grove house chief defense lawyer. Ended up with a government responsibility for overseeing the conduct of the trial. That kind of strength. One german observer of the day said this makes it look worse for the banal republic. Away from the trial a secret deal was worked out between granting 1000 owners herrmann birds and the provincial government the secret deal was only revealed when the trial was dramatically stopped after 2 and a half years under the deal volumes of the prosecutions evidence would be sealed from public view. In return for having all the serious criminal charges against its owner and executives dropped the company agreed to pay the victims lifetime pensions ranging from 30. 00 to 140. 00 a month as well as a small one time payments but in order to collect the money the little mite has had to agree not to launch any further suits against greene and so taken as a whole the trial was a glorious if unlucky triumph. Really scope from the disaster really to what were given the sky over and the scope of the tragedy. While canada loudly celebrated its 100th birthday and 967 police and other mind families suffered in silence a few parents had committed suicide others became alcoholics and some were having severe psychiatric. Lets listen my children were now school age but the question that plague medical and educational authorities was what type of school should they enter school says wait hes got no arms he cant go to the school they dont have such a thing as integration on and out again whats integration is a kid needs to go to go to school he needs to learn and its to be educated he can write he can read what else do you need the School Finally agreed to take alvin. In england 197. 00 families of the little my children were suing distillers the British Company which had distributed the drug distillers made a ridiculously low offer of compensation and warned that the money would be paid out only if all parents agreed to the lifetime of 5 families refuse the offer they were led by david mason and wealthy london art dealer and father of louise there i came under tremendous pressure i received threats on my life i had a police guard for a period of time i had anonymous phone calls i hadnt none of those letters. You know threats from parents her father as well publicised opposition to the compensation created problems for louise at her Care Institution up until then i was not one of the crowd but after that i was picked on and thats when i felt like i was alone in a amongst a crowd luisa skate the hostility of our classmates when her father took her out to participate in publicise the events for his campaign i was used as a as opposed to go not only because i was his daughter because i had the extremes of the disability unfortunately i had great impact. David masons campaign succeeded in increasing by 6 times the Drug Companies original offer to the parents i did pay a heavy price personally but. If i had a pipe that price the thalidomide is wouldnt have got the compensation when they got the compensation so i think it was well i believe the miners were becoming teenagers. Now the north Riding School and by the time he was a teenager he seemed to fit right in. As far as the whole scene or school has been i think thats the most important part is being accepted by people if youre not accepted there wont be. Worth anything it was about acceptance totally and it was about asking 2 or 3 girls out on dates to which i heard are you kidding i wanted to date just like any 16 year old but i didnt have that good fortune and of course i used to blame it on the girls and maybe it was part leave them but i know it was mostly me i thought and i was going to have to be a nun i didnt think that i was going to go on dates i didnt know what was going to happen and that thats not how it happened i had a Great High School run i mean you know i had a lot of fun my friends i had too much fun and if youre like me and my friends you drive around and look for pools and you go skinny dipping and thats both we did. For most the little getting behind the wheel of a car was the road to independence and freedom. The ways mason was determined to drive no matter how difficult it was for her jazz music leap to get behind the wheel and do up her seat. From just. One driving instructor nothing shocks in a stable person. Somebodys got no arms or legs but the tests which. Was exactly the same save one hours theres no difference they came so naturally something driving electric will change for me most of my life. Going to college because we were sharing. What the little mite is didnt know was of the drug was still in circulation though grown and sell had stopped producing the drug so little made an early comeback in the mid sixtys when other suppliers began manufacturing it in india and some south american countries where it had become the drug of choice for treating left prosy. So i dont walk into. My own body i have a good body. I was in law found himself in the public limelight he became his problems a spokesman for the Handicapped Children. Was. Released i think. Over the years alvin would make appearances on telephones across the country. Minding going here. Not better than other hand people. Because im not a handicapped person. Or people get it wrong when they look at all of them long they think god its tremendous how you can do things with his feet well i suppose if you look at your feet its tremendous but these are my feet these are my hands too and i have been doing it forever these are not tremendous feet isnt the only thing that ive got so when i pick up a copy and i have a drink you know. Wow what a thrill thats what it is and i do think. Thank. You. Life wasnt so kind for another thalidomide poster child louise mason continued to enjoy bullying from other kids at her institution for the handicapped but one day when she was 13 she was raped by another student. Louise went to a nurse for help are shaking i was tearful and. I took my underwear off and i saw blood and i tried to explain to them what happened they did nothing. And to nothing to. Louise enjoy 5 more years of fear and loneliness before finally leaving the institution then like any 18 year old louise immediately started to enjoy the freedom and joys of college life. Balance parts and just share how with guns with also gaps between clocking us to god because. It was something i shouldnt have done or wasnt altitude i went to the park regularly troubles me regularly i got into trouble that it was cross our boys in europe for a date. But i might as well you know got to Vice President of the Student Union and got well but. Unlike louise mason who really saw her mother during childhood yun shelter hill and formed a close bond with his mother from birth and her unwavering support and encouragement were critical in his career decision she never lost hope sure she said que everything you want to achieve in your life youre going to achieve it i have absolutely no doubt and when i when i turned up with their with the idea that. That i wanted to be a doctor everybody told me you should not its not a very good idea you cannot do that you will have severe problems she said son do your own thing if thats what you want to do youre going to manage yon is now an emergency room doctor in switzerland i dont consider my condition as a major issue. And not a flu mine and for a start on the 1st part im a man im trying to be a good doctor and trying to be a good husband and father and a lover and i have short arms and thats it and if people have problems its accepting me or i have problems to interact with me because i have short arms its very progun its not mine after years of waiting suffering and fighting for compensation canadian victims of the little mind are finally getting the help they need from the federal government yesterday the Health Minister said survivors of the drug will receive lifelong pensions individuals can now start feeling comfortable about their future they know they have a. Amount of money coming in every year that can support them and help them. I dont know what your lives are like sometimes life can really be rough on people i understand that i get it ive been in real life alvin law is a motivational speaker whos influenced audiences in north america and australia with his message of hope is special to more than 2000000 youngsters who heard his top speaking is the best thing i could ever cite where youre helping kids and they need to have somebody come in and tell them that its going to be ok but i get such tremendous joy out of doing it there is nothing in my life that makes me happy and speaking the kids nothing. Eileen cronin fell in love with andy a graduate student in economics i was in love very definitely a 1st sight. All of her. Already had a boyfriend you know i immediately was drugs are you nervous and intelligence. Her wit we moved in together. And we got pregnant very quickly. Very quickly i was wracked with worry all my life about having a child because i didnt know for sure that my mother had taken the limit i was kind of panicked it started just settling in oh my god im going to have a baby i dont even know if i can have a baby i dont know if the babys going to have legs or not have legs or Something Else but also really i did not know how i was going to carry a baby in my back and so they did the ultrasound the alter sound technician zoom right away we found put one foot blew it up took a picture and wrote footlights that and then other foot hands fingers and. I was crying and all the injured starting that. We knew that. When his 1st wife sandy became pregnant alvin law was terrified about what the future held when i saw him come out of there with 2 arms and. 2 hands and 5 little fingers on. I didnt care what brand he was at all care if it was a she or he it didnt matter. It was just the most tremendous feeling my son. And i do it again. With no. Going back i worried a lot about how i was going to play ball with. You know your arms to be there you dont mean arms to listen you dont need arms to be a father at all unfortunately too many fathers that have watched it realize that. They were forget that thats true you just have to be there for him. That surprised me. The tears i dont im not sad im just. As big as a little theyre. Going to suck little boy sometimes but thats not how life works right louise mason had been a single mother for 10 years when she received a Christmas Card from an old boyfriend ive heard that louis havent been very well and kind to a Christmas Card and im going to the allow nothing of bach reignited if the best way i could describe it. Kiss me goodbye and butterflies. I was floating on a cloud. And he told his wife he was leaving. The house impact car. And then he moved danny reading to get a sense. That. It really really fast and i dont know where i would communicate he would go there without even talking. With another wave of it were my trick to the to be honest. In 1997 thats a little my Victims Association of canada faced an agonizing choice a small American DrugCompany Celgene wanted to bring thalidomide onto the market as a treatment for leprosy and cancer but needed the approval of the federal Drug Administration in washington celgene sought the support of canadian victims for its application if the little i can change for the better the life of a child with cancer that lets produce it and lets give it to these children and lets make their lives better and if its because of the price that we had to pay good then maybe we can have some solace in knowing that it wasnt all in vain in july 998 the u. S. Food and Drug Administration licensed a 3rd of my base drug but in both the tightest rules on its use for any drug in history officially celgene got f. D. A. Approval for thalidomide to treat lepers a miniscule American Market but the drug Company Quickly began focusing on it as a treatment from multiple myeloma a cancer of the blood cells and got approval for that use in 2006. In australia. The British Company that bought distillers were codefendants in a multimillion dollar class action suit centered on the net row case melbourne woman lynette row is suing the drugs manufacturer grin and tell the company what of the case heard in germany where its never successfully been so that the Victorian Supreme Court today dismissed that application this was an application boy the company that made the lead annoyed the worst drug in the history of medicine to have an armless legless woman who has no money and doesnt speak german if she wishes to have a day in court have to move to germany for the next 4 years so we had diaz and groom tazo defendants. Have this never given never. Miller thing never considered far to the bitter end of the steelers took a much more compassionate sensible way to approach which was once convinced of a strength of the climb i settled with when i couldnt tell didnt pay a cent we had to get up and fight age that every day in court where the incredible damage the grown toward. To me now. The settlement amount was a multibillion dollar some it was a sum sufficient to provide lynn with 1st class care for the rest of it off it really has dramatically transformed the rise lives grin and refused to pay a cent of the multimillion Dollar Settlement the 2 months later held a press conference so it could apologize to its victims for the 1st time in 50 years that i know its because youre unsure to go thats your 1st chance to get out a long mr big 3 in front managed to mention. That thats not a good use leader just to feel like it because you know it was a longish talk with a scientist and i should also be in year 6 by wednesday f. M. They couldnt have gone into something shocking we had to get up and fight each day every day and cope with the incredible damage to grow into a dog. To lean on our family. Grins i was still a privately owned company the votes family i said today just as it did in 160. Does not have show shareholders demanding returns the 1st familys personal fortune has been variously estimated at the 23000000000 euros it would not drive that family into. Penury or bankruptcy or poverty to loosen the Purse Strings and behave in a more generous fashion towards the voters. And sell no longer makes the little mind and continue to deny most of the little matters outside germany any compensation no survivors feel they received an acceptable apology. Refused to be interviewed for this film. Today celgene continues to prosper from the sale of its followed in my derived drugs to treat multiple myeloma. Prior to getting approval to bring its version of the drug back onto the market in 1998 the American Drug company was valued at 100000000. 00. Today celgene value has soared to 100000000000. 00. The original thundered in my drug is easy and cheap to manufacture and continues to be made and distributed by several Drug Companies and governments to treat leprosy unfortunately it is mostly used in countries that often do not enforce rigorous controls and regulation as a result a little might injure babies i still feel. Some of the miners worldwide void by the success of the net rotate every new efforts to fight for compensation as they battle with the continued side effects are going to. Want a strong opinions clear positions from international perspectives. Nato leaders of this week be meeting in london to mark the 70th anniversary of an organization that likes to see itself as the most successful military alliance in history but how deep the rifts within the alliance find out on to the point. In 90 minutes on the look. Of the insurers of the famous naturalist and explorer. To celebrate alexander from the worlds 250th birthday were embarking on a voyage of discovery. Expedition voyage on t. W. Place. Which is moved into book travel now im a retired. Business t w news live from berlin france is paralyzed by one of its biggest nationwide strikes in decades French PublicSector Workers closed down. Transport hospitals and schools in a protest against proposed Pension Reforms for the strike isnt over yet so what will happen today well go live to paris also coming up President Donald Trump daz the democrats to go ahead with impeachment now and fast thats after the most powerful woman in washington said the time it come to start