'Forgotten victims' of hormone pregnancy drug Primodos battle to get justice
Tragic Thalidomide victims have finally received a £20 million pay off and a belated apology from the Government.
But many other families who claim their lives have been ruined by another drug once used in pregnancy testing are still waiting in hope that their plight will one day be recognised by the Government. Alison Dayani reports
KARL Murphy was born with limb deformities 37 years ago that have nothing to do with Thalidomide.
He had no toes on his left foot, fingers missing on both hands, a harelip and no bones in the roof of his mouth.
He blames a tablet taken by his mother, Pamela, which was given to ‘healthy young women’ in the 1960s and 70s before a simple urine test became the norm.
The tablet, he said, was the hormone drug Primodos.
But, unlike the high-profile Thalidomide victims, people like Karl, now a leading member of the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests, fear they are in danger of being forgotten.
Now, a campaign to highlight the alleged devastation caused by the drug has been relaunched.
German pharmaceutical firm Bayer Schering denies Primodos has any link to deformities in babies.
But Karl claims various deformities were reported in babies from women who took Primodos. Of the alleged victims, 28 per cent of babies had bone and limb defects, 23 per cent suffered heart deformities, 23 per cent had brain damage and 10 per cent diagnosed with spina bifida.
A warning went out to doctors to stop using Primodos in 1975, but it later emerged that it was still being given to women until 1978, when it was taken off the market.
“The West Midlands was heavily hit like many other areas in the country and victims are still fighting for the justice they deserve,” claimed Mr Murphy.
“A hormone called Norethisterone, a man-made form of Progesterone, is used today in the pill with 1mg in each tablet, but Primodos had 10mg of it in each tablet along with other hormones and women took two tablets on consecutive days. Campaigners have raised questions about the safety of that.
