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The Thalidomide Tragedy And The United States, Kaylee J. Rice

Tenor of Our Times

This paper attempts to give a brief history of the drug Thalidomide, from its initial market success to the discovery of its relationship to infant birth defects, as well as arguing that it was the thalidomide tragedy in Europe that prompted the United States to enforce stricter drug testing laws. It proceeds by explaining the uses and side effects of thalidomide, as well as the sudden outbreak of phocomelia that swept across Europe after the drug became popular. The paper then concentrates on the relatively less severe phocomelia outbreak in the United States, attributing it to the work of Dr. …