Thalidomide: 40 survivors still fighting for compensation

40 survivors of the Thalidomide controversy left with limb impairments are stil hoping to find some form of compensation as well as a monument marking the medical scandal that affected their lives.

Anatole Baldacchino, the president of the Thalidomide Survivors Association, is reaching out to persons who may have been affected by the drug, developed by Grünenthal in Germany to treat prospective mothers for morning sickness.

Deployed in 1958, the first infants to be impacted by the effects of Thalidomide were those of the employees of the manufacturer. At first, Grünenthal insisted that stillbirths and impairments on infants were attributed to natural causes. After Distillers UK acquired the licence to produce and sell the drug, births in the 1960s and 1970s brought the scandal to the fore. Most recently, thalidomide survivors in Wales, amounting to around 30 individuals and mostly in their 60s, started to receive lifelong financial support.

Now Baldacchino is hoping to achieve the same, supported by the Minister for Inclusion and Quality of Life, Julia Farrugia Portelli alongside MEP Alex Agius Saliba.

Baldacchino says victims range from stillborn infants or neo-natal deaths to survivors who had impairments due to Thalidomide. The extent of the impairment varied, which includes but not limited to, physical impairment such as short limbs.

“Infants that were dead at birth and those that were born with deformities and conditions also impacted their respective families,” Baldacchino says, who believes the government is warmer to the TSA’s calls for compensation than other associations’ experiences in other countries.

Founded in May 2022, four of the TSA’s five founding members suffer of impairments due to Thalidomide.  Through their campaign, a public call was issued for those who believe that are thalidomide survivors. Data collected is now being analysed by the minister for social inclusion.

“The overarching aim of this campaign, which is still ongoing, is to give a voice to those who were impacted by this horrible medicine. So far, our campaign managed to reach around 40 individuals who could have been possibly affected by Thalidomide and we are seeking to reach out more people,” Baldacchino said, who would also like to see a memorial to the families affected by Thalidomide. “Finally, there should also be more pub-lic awareness about the Thalidomide scandal,” he said.

But knowledge about the Thalidomide scandal in Malta is rather limited. As they still reach out for persons who may have been affected by this drug, TSA understands that there may be people out there who may be unaware that the cause of their impairment was due to Thalidomide.

“We at TSA believe that the research will address a major gap on the topic of the Thalidomide scandal. At this point, there are signs the issue has aroused interest in Maltese and foreign academia.”

The TSA expects that once the research will be published, early next year, the public will have a full account of those multitudes of factors that led to the introduction of Thalidomide, and the delays in having it removed from circulation.

This is not a historical exercise, despite what some might believe, Baldacchino said. “Les-sons that may be gained from this scandal can be applied to prevent history from repeating again.... By February 2023, we are intending to launch the publication of the research on the Thalidomide scandal in Malta,” Baldacchino said.

TSA is working to also start negotiations with Diagio UK, originally Distillers UK, which distributed Thalidomide in Malta. “This NGO will assist those who are confirmed as being Thalidomide survivors, and will continue support such individuals in an ongoing manner,” he said.