Word: contergan
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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What seemed, when first tested a few years ago, to be the ideal sleeping pill has turned into a frightening medical nightmare. The drug is thalidomide; it has been widely used in Western Europe (except France) under the names Contergan and Softenon, in Britain as Distaval, and in Brazil and Japan. In Canada, and (under heavy restrictions) in the U.S., it is distributed as Kevadon. Not a barbiturate, thalidomide quickly induces sleep and seldom leaves a hangover. It appears virtually impossible to commit suicide with it; 188 people are known to have tried and failed. But on a statistical basis...
Chemie Gruenenthal burbled: "Contergan is especially well suited for calming down anxious, nervous and restless children . . . Excellent for babies." Obstetricians who found that it tranquilized pregnant women prescribed it to allay morning sickness. Consumption shot up in many countries. Last April, the Canadian subsidiary of Cincinnati's Wm. S. Merrell Co. put it on prescription sale in Canada...