Word: kevadon
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...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, it stands accused of causing many hideous malformations in babies born to mothers who took...
...cautious Food and Drug Administration confined Kevadon to medical researchers "for investigational use only.'' and presumably consumption has been small-though some American women travelers have brought foreign pills home in their pocketbooks...
...check every malformed birth since January 1959 in West Germany's most populous state (Nordrhein-Westfalen, 15.5 million people). Chemie Gruenenthal took Contergan. and every compound drug containing thalidomide off the market. And all 18,500 doctors in Canada got a December warning from the Merrell Co.: "Kevadon should not be administered to pregnant women nor to premenopausal women who may become pregnant." U.S. investigators using the drug got a similar warning...