Suffer the children

Thalidomide was hailed as a wonder drug. A tranquilizer that was to be aggressively marketed as non-toxic, free from side-effects safe even for pregnant women. Extensively researched by The Sunday Times Insight Team, here for the first time is the full story of this harmless drug and its dreadful consequences, and of how the parents overcame the formidable obstacles placed in their way to secure a just settlement for their children.

This is an angry story of greed and indifference, of incompetence and evasion - but it is also a story of great courage and determination - and finally it is a story that is an awful warning, and one that we ignore at our peril.