James Pastouna

Thalidomide called ‘Contergan’ in German was a morning sickness drug sold on the market during the fifties. The drug was not properly researched meaning that thousands of children were born with shortened limbs. The German company who manufactured the tablets Grünenthal with support from high powered lawyers did their best to squirm out of their financial responsibilities. For years the victims received a miserly payment.

For many other countries the victims of this drug got peanuts. In Germany it took fifty years for the victims to get a ‘decent’ pension payment. In 2013 the disability payments were raised.

Fifty years later, the German government finally raised payments to the victims.

It was a Harry Evans article in the Sunday Times that got me interested in their plight. He and his Sunday Times team fought tirelessly for years demanding that those affected get fair compensation.