WI: Thalidomide approved for use by USDA in 1960

If this drug had been approved, what is the conservative estimate of the amount of birth defects it would have caused in the US? How long would it likely have taken for Thalidomide to be confirmed as the agent responsible? Politically would there be a bipartisan determination to reform drug research, or would there be a contrast between Democratic legislative solutions and Republican market-oriented approaches?
 
They did approve that and it was sold, I have an uncle missing an arm because of that.

They should have just let women smoke weed like God intended.
 
Here's a good Retro Report on Thalidomide. It's worth a watch.

It wasn't approved by the FDA, but a high amount of pre-market samples were given to US doctors, and one of the uses was as a morning sickness drug. Given how it was marketed in Germany, with one interviewer (possible anecdotally) noting that they were giving away as much Thalidomide as Aspirin, if it were distributed on the same scale in the US, you'd probably be able to raise the magnitude of drug regulation in response.
 

kernals12

Banned
If this drug had been approved, what is the conservative estimate of the amount of birth defects it would have caused in the US? How long would it likely have taken for Thalidomide to be confirmed as the agent responsible? Politically would there be a bipartisan determination to reform drug research, or would there be a contrast between Democratic legislative solutions and Republican market-oriented approaches?
Congress did beef up pharmaceutical regulations with the Kefauver-Harris Amendment in 1962 despite thalidomide never being approved in the US. The fact that one person kept America from disaster was enough to spur action.
 
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