A mea culpa from the German inventor of a drug that caused birth defects in thousands of babies worldwide is too little too late, thalidomide victims said yesterday.
“We feel that a sincere and genuine apology is one which actually admits wrongdoing. The company has not done that,” British victim Nick Dobrik told BBC Radio.
The drug was sold in nearly 50 countries, mostly in the 1950s, to pregnant women with morning sickness. They gave birth to about 10,000 babies with malformed or missing limbs or other defects.
“We also ask forgiveness for not reaching out to you from human to human for almost 50 years . . . We ask that you see our long speechlessness as a sign of the silent shock your fate has caused us,” Gruenenthal CEO Harald Stock said Friday.
Charity groups estimate that there are 5,000 to 6,000 deformed survivors still alive. The drug was not pulled from the market until 1961.