“Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for …”
(John Lennon)

On 01 July 2009, the German Bundestag or parliament denied that thalidomide was created by the Nazis. Of course, if thalidomide was created by the Nazis, the guv’mint of the federal republic of Germany is liable. Did you expect the said republic to recognise its liability?

Video
Thalidomide drug used by Nazis (Today It’s Used as Chemotherapy)
http://newstoday.smashits.com/video/51hhHb3upWo/thalidomide-drug-used-by-nazis-today-it-s-used-as-chemotherapy-.html

Why is it that thalidomide was not marketed in France?
Rhône-Poulenc?

Grünenthal apparently purchased the trade name of the drug – Contergan – and therefore probably the substance itself, from a French firm, Rhône-Poulenc, which was under Nazi control during the war years.
(From The Sunday Times
February 8, 2009
Thalidomide ‘was created by the Nazis’
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5683577.ece

You don’t believe me?

http://www.thalidomide.ca/fr/informations/visages.html
France   non autorisée

All neighbouring countries, except perhaps Andorra and Monaco, authorised.

ABSTRACT
Thalidomide had been tested before use.
Thalidomide was created by the Nazis.
Its origins go back to 1938 and one Frances Oldham Kelsey.
Thalidomide was marketed since 1957. Kelsey was only appointed to the USA Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after the 30 April- 1 May 1960 Düsseldorf Congress of neurologists warning of the dangers of thalidomide.
In 1938 the name of Frances Oldham Kelsey, at the ripe old age of 24, appeared at the FDA in connection with the Elixir Sulfanilamide disaster.
Upon Kelsey feigning to ignore the April-May 1960 Düsseldorf Congress, USA president John F. Kennedy honoured Kelsey in 1962 with a presidential award for having saved his country from her product.
Every mother knows that her child should not play with a toy the child does not understand. The mechanism of the biological action of thalidomide is still being debated.
Human nature is constituted as such that some individuals who have inside knowledge about the effects of thalidomide will ‘always’ deliberately and unnoticeably cause the serious harm thalidomide can ‘so easily’ cause. They do that precisely because the damage is so serious to the mother and to the child and because they can do that so easily and without being noticed. It may be that ‘in clinical trials’, thalidomide is shown to be effective against many things. But ‘in real life’, it is given to unsuspecting girls. This can be reconciled with John Lennon if one remembers that thalidomide was created by the Nazis.
Ivo Cerckel, 30 June  2009
http://bphouse.com/honest_money/human-testing/
END OF ABSTRACT

On 01 July 2009, the German Bundestag denied that thalidomide was created by the Nazis.

Datum: 01.07.2009
heute im Bundestag - 01.07.2009
http://www.bundestag.de/aktuell/hib/2009/2009_205/05.html
SNIP
Im Bundestag notiert: Contergan-Tabletten

- Familie/Antwort

Berlin: (hib/SKE) Die Bundesregierung geht nicht davon aus, dass der in den Contergan-Tabletten enthaltene Wirkstoff Thalidomid von den Nationalsozialisten entwickelt wurde. Das geht aus einer Antwort der Bundesregierung (16/13308) auf eine Kleine Anfrage der Fraktion Die Linke (16/13086) hervor. Nach Angaben der Firma Grünenthal, die Contergan herstellte, sei der Wirkstoff 1954 von der Firma entwickelt worden. Es gebe keinen Anlass, die Aussage zu bezweifeln.
UNSNIP

I REPEAT
Es gebe keinen Anlass, die Aussage [that’s the staterment from Grünenthal] zu bezweifeln.
There is no reason to put into doubt the statement of Grünenthal that it developed thalidomide itself from 1954 onwards.

I REMIND ALSO
If, as [...] research suggests, thalidomide was first developed by scientists working in wartime Germany, it could have implications for the liability of the German government.
(From The Sunday Times
February 8, 2009
Thalidomide ‘was created by the Nazis’
The damaging drug may have been developed as an antidote to nerve gas
Daniel Foggo
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5683577.ece

Of course, if Grünenthal’s statement is put into doubt, the guv’mint of the federal republic of Germany is liable.

Did you expect the said republic to recognise its liability?

From The Sunday Times
September 13, 2009
Thalidomide victim Gary Skyner to go on hunger strike
Daniel Foggo
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6832320.ece

British professors are paid by the British taxpayer.

Is it then the UK guv’mint whih is liable?

1.
The Sunday Times in London was still maintaining on 28 September 2008 that thalidomide had never been tested on humans.

From The Sunday Times
September 28, 2008
Thalidomide: Survival instinct
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article4818160.ece
SNIP
Found to be safe in animal trials, but never tested on humans, it was launched in 46 countries. UNSNIP

Hence in November 2008, the National in Abu Dhabi carried an opinion in which it was being argued that it is far from clear that thalidomide’s terrible effects would have been detected even by today’s animal testing.

When animals fail the test
Robert Matthews
Last Updated: November 30. 2008 9:29PM UAE / November 30. 2008 5:29PM GMT
http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081201/FRONTIERS/821454234/-1/OPINION

Were they joking?

The whistle on thalidomide was blown at a congress of neurologists on 30 April - 1st May 1960 in Duesseldorf.
http://www.wdr.de/themen/gesundheit/pharmazie/contergan/chronik.jhtml?rubrikenstyle=contergan

Gruenenthal, the maker of thalidomide, only withdrew thalidomide from Europe on 27 November 1961.

Real-life testing on humans does of course not qualify as “scientific” animal-testing.

On 13 September 2009, The Sunday Times added that
In fact, thalidomide had never been tested for its effects on pregnant women by either Distillers or the German company Grünenthal, which claimed to have discovered it in 1953.

From The Sunday Times
September 13, 2009
Thalidomide victim Gary Skyner to go on hunger strike
Daniel Foggo
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article6832320.ece

2..
From The Sunday Times
February 8, 2009
Thalidomide ‘was created by the Nazis’
The damaging drug may have been developed as an antidote to nerve gas
Daniel Foggo
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5683577.ece

3.
Thalidomide was definitely known in the year 1938 and [its] defects were noted in Phoenix, AZ (USA) in a medical journal that year. It was known as a cure for {Hansen]’s Disease and made by [Richardson]-Merrill Co. in [Cincinnati], OH (USA). I don’t know what action was taken, but a young female doctor named Frances Oldham Kersey (or Kelsey) recognized its dangers. Theodore, Princeton, WV/USA
(reaction under From The Times April 4, 2008 Thalidomide: 50 years on victims unite to seek more compensation Nigel Hawkes, Health Editor
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article3671815.ece

Kelsey was the lady who in 1960 only joined the US of A Food and Drugs Administration (FDA).

Once there, she further delayed thalidomide’s approval (thalidomide was marketed since 1957)
and was given a Presidential award by US of A president Kennedy for that delay.

Wikipedia says
that Kelsey is credited SINCE NINETEEN THIRTY-EIGHT with her interest in teratogens - that is, drugs that cause congenital malformations,
that 1938 was the date of the creation of the FDA,
and that Kelsey managed to be appointed there in 1960
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Oldham_Kelsey

Thalidomide was marketed since 1957.

Kelsey was only appointed in the FDA in 1960.

How can she get (all) the credit for having ‘saved’ the US of A from it?

4.
It would be all about (female, I suppose) intuition.

The Thalidomide Disaster
Friday, Aug. 10, 1962
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,873697,00.html
Thanks to the INTUITION of the Food and Drug Administration’s Dr. Frances Kelsey,* the U.S. has got off lightly because the drug was never licensed for general use
+
Her first major assignment was to pass on the application of Cincinnati’s William S. Merrell Co. for a license to market thalidomide in the U.S. under the trade name Kevadon.* Along with the application came a sheaf of reports on years of animal testing and human use of the drug in Europe. There was no hint that the drug had any undesirable side effects, and Merrell pressed hard for quick approval.
+
Though Dr. Kelsey had kept Kevadon off the U.S. market for more than a year, this did not mean that no U.S. doctors were using the drug

Ivo:
Kevadon (thalidomide) was marketed in Europe since 1957
Kelsey came only to the FDA after the Aptil-May 1960 Duesseldorf Cocgress
Merrell Co. waited so long to file its application in US of A.

Merrell Co. OR Richardson-Merrill Co.?
(Merrell is with “e” before the double L. Richardson-Merrill is with “i’ before the double L.)
We don’t even know who filed the application in 1960.

5.
AS I QUOTED ABOVE
Thalidomide was definitely known in the year 1938 and [its] defects were noted in Phoenix, AZ (USA) in a medical journal that year. It was known as a cure for [Hansen]’s Disease and made by [Richardson]-Merrill Co. in [Cincinnati], OH (USA). I don’t know what action was taken, but a young female doctor named Frances Oldham Kersey (or Kelsey) recognized its dangers. Theodore, Princeton, WV/USA
(reaction under From The Times April 4, 2008 Thalidomide: 50 years on victims unite to seek more compensation Nigel Hawkes, Health Editor
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/health/article3671815.ece

Right, 1937 was ALSO the Elixir Sulfanilamide disaster
BUT look whose name is appearing:
The company started selling and distributing the medication in September 1937. By October 11, the American Medical Association received a report of several deaths caused by the medication. The Food and Drug Administration was notified, and an extensive search was conducted to recover the distributed medicine. FRANCES OLDHAM KELSEY assisted on a research project, which verified that the excipient DEG was responsible for the fatal adverse effects. At least 100 deaths were blamed on the medication.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elixir_Sulfanilamide

6.
Look how Kelsey is lying

From Tragedy to Triumph:
The Approval of Thalidomide”
by Kristina E. Lutz
http://leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/351/Lutz.pdf.
http://72.14.235.132/search?q=cache:mC0RQoulUxYJ:leda.law.harvard.edu/leda/data/351/Lutz.pdf+kevadon+Vick+Chemical&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=uk
SNIP
It was under these auspices that on September 12, 1960, Dr. Kelsey was introduced to Richardson-Merrell’s thalidomide product, Kevadon.
26
At the time of the application’s submission there had not been any reports of problems pertaining to thalidomide.
27
Although it would be later proved that the first thalidomide baby was born on Christmas day, 1956 in Stolberg, Germany,
28
European doctors had yet to make the connection between the horrible birth defects and thalidomide

IVO: what about the Duesseldorf 30 April – 1 May 1960 neurological congress?

Chronik des Conterganfalls
Tragödie - Katastrophe - Skandal?
http://www.wdr.de/themen/gesundheit/pharmazie/contergan/chronik.jhtml?rubrikenstyle=contergan
30. April/1. Mai 1960:
Auf einem Neurologen-Kongress in Düsseldorf berichtet der Neurologe Ralf Voss über die Nervenschädigungen, die seinen
Beobachtungen zufolge durch Thalidomid verursacht werden. Die Forschungsabteilung von Grünenthal versucht daraufhin, die Nervenschädigungen an Ratten zu reproduzieren - ohne Erfolg. Grünenthal-Forschungsleiter Mückter schließt daraus, dass es sich um besondere Situationen handelt, für die Contergan nur selten als Ursache infrage kommt.

Fraus omnia corrumpit, fraud negates everything

And in 1997, Kelsey advocated the re-introduction of thalidomide
http://www.berlinonline.de/berliner-zeitung/archiv/.bin/dump.fcgi/1997/0926/none/0016/index.html
Ausgerechnet Frances Kelsey, die vor 37 Jahren das Contergan-Verbot durchsetzte, begründete nun die Wiedereinführung des Produkts in den Vereinigten Staaten.

Is this a joke?
The first drug [Kelsey] was asked to evaluate [at the FDA] was thalidomide,
http://www.chemistryexplained.com/Hy-Kr/Kelsey-Frances-Kathleen-Oldham.html
In 1960 the Kelseys moved to Washington, D.C., where Frances was offered a job at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Her job was to evaluate applications from drug companies that wished to market new drugs. She had sixty days to evaluate each application. The first drug she was asked to evaluate was thalidomide, a sedative prescribed to pregnant women for relief from morning sickness.

7.
Thalidomide would be useful in lasic eye surgery?
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Heinous Histories Collide
Lasik Eye Surgery - A Refractive Eye Surgical Procedure
http://fnk-nyrpe4.blogspot.com/2009/03/heinous-histories-collide-lasik-eye.html

It is impossible to be and not to be at the same time and in the same respect, said Aristotle in His “Metaphysics”.

This is the Principle of Non-Contradiction.

Thanks to thalidomide, this thalidomide monster has both keratoconus and cataract in BOTH eyes. Cornea in left eye has been replaced in 1988 but is being rejected since 2004. The graft is still in the eye. Cataract has been operated in left eye in 2006. Right eye is still open.

Still, it is being argued here that thalidomide would be useful in ophthalmology.

Is it being argued that using thalidomide on pregnant girls is using thalidomide in a different respect than using it on non-pregnant humans?

8
Every mother knows that her child should not play with a toy the child does not understand.

The mechanism of the biological action of thalidomide is still being debated, with current literature that suggests that it intercalates into DNA in G-C rich regions,
says Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalidomide

DISCLAIMER: RIGHT, I MUST STILL TRY TO FINE-TUNE MY APPLICATION OF THE FOLLOWING QUOTE IN MEDICAL MATTERS:
In its popular form, pragmatism elevate[s] “what works” to the sole standard of judgment but remain[s] vague about the ends and people for which things are supposed to work. Applied to questions of truth finding, pragmatism stresse[s] the “consensus of the experts,” which is not too bad a criterion as long as expertise itself is not defined on merely pragmatic grounds. However, the pragmatic mindset quickly move[s] to such a definition, especially in the fields of ethics, politics and economics. This [leads]
to a sociological definition of truth—truth is what conforms to the ruling opinion—which nicely fitted the meritocratic and democratic ethos of the age
(Frank van Dun, “Dead End Street Blues,” in “ Libertarian Papers”, Vol. I , Art No 8 (2009), p. 14, http://libertarianpapers.org/articles/2009/lp-1-8.pdf )

Thalidomide may have proven to be an effective treatment against many things, but is it also safe?

As William James said in his book “Pragmatism”: Ideas become true just as far as they help us to get into satisfactory relations with other parts of our experience.
(quoted by Antony Flew and Stephen Priest, “A Dictionary of Philosophy”, Pan Books (Macmillan), 1984, 2nd ed., verbo ‘pragmatism”)

The term pragmatism was first introduced in 1878 by C.S. Pierce: Said he: “Consider what effects which might CONCEIVABLY (Ivo’s emphasis) have practical bearings, we conceive the object of our consciousness to have. Then our conception of those effects is the whole of our conception of the object.”
(Flew and Priest, op. cit., loc. cit.)

Contrast this to John Lennon:
Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for …
(no that’s not from Flew and Priest)

9.
Human nature is constituted as such that some individuals who have inside knowledge about the effects of thalidomide will ‘always’ deliberately and unnoticeably cause the serious harm thalidomide can ‘so easily’ cause.

They do that precisely because the damage is so serious to the mother and to the child
and because they can do that so easily and without being noticed.

It may be that ‘in clinical trials’, thalidomide is shown to be effective against many things.
But ‘in real life’, it is given to unsuspecting girls.

Or will a utilitarian argue that this should be weighed against the lives which can be saved through thalidomide?
Perhaps, the utilitarian should be reminded of the surprising ignorance among younger doctors about its dangers, especially in countries where it was never an issue.

Utilitarianism is the ethical doctrine that the moral worth of an action is solely determined by its contribution to overall utility in maximizing happiness or pleasure as summed among all persons. It is thus a form of consequentialism, meaning that the moral worth of an action is determined by its outcome—the ends justify the means, says Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utilitarianism

How to reconcile this with John Lennon’s” Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for …”?

Here’s how
From The Sunday Times
February 8, 2009
Thalidomide ‘was created by the Nazis’
The damaging drug may have been developed as an antidote to nerve gas
Daniel Foggo
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5683577.ece

FOR YOUR INFORMATION
At least three children have been born in Brazil in the past three years after their mothers took [thalidomide] while pregnant. There have also been reports of thalidomide defects from Mexico, India, and Africa.
(Thalidomide: a curse and a blessing?
By Clare Murphy
Health reporter, BBC News
Thursday, 3 April 2008 09:26 UK
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/health/7326588.stm

Ivo Cerckel
ivocerckel@siquijor.ws

“Imagine there’s no countries. It isn’t hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for …”
(John Lennon)