THALIDOMIDE STILL MAKING VICTIMS IN BRAZIL

[Reproduced from BBC on-line]

Brazil's new Thalidomide babies
24 de julho de 2013 10h37

By Angus Crawford
BBC Newsnight
A new scientific study seen exclusively by the BBC indicates that the drug Thalidomide is still causing birth defects in Brazil today. It's been given to people suffering from leprosy to ease some of their symptoms, and some women have taken it unaware of the risks they run when pregnant.
Thalidomide was first marketed in the late 1950s as a sedative. It was given to pregnant women to help them overcome morning sickness - but it damaged babies in the womb, restricting the growth of arms and legs.
About 10,000 Thalidomide babies were born worldwide until the drug was withdrawn in the early 1960s. In most countries the Thalidomide children became Thalidomide adults, now in their 50s, and there were no more Thalidomide babies.
But in Brazil the drug was re-licensed in 1965 as a treatment for skin lesions, one of the complications of leprosy.

Alan's family asked that he not be identified
Leprosy is more prevalent in Brazil than in any other country except India. More than 30,000 new cases are diagnosed each year - and millions of Thalidomide pills are distributed.
Researchers now say 100 Brazilian children have injuries exactly like those caused by Thalidomide.
"A tragedy is occurring in Brazil... it is a syndrome which is completely avoidable," says Dr Lavinia Schuler-Faccini, a professor at the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul.
But campaigners, doctors and leprosy sufferers say the drug is vital. They believe the benefits outweigh the risks.
Schuler-Faccini and other researchers from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Porto Alegre looked at the birth records of 17.5 million babies born between 2005 and 2010.
"We looked at all children with limb defects and those with the characteristic defects of Thalidomide," Schuler-Faccini says.
"We compared the distribution of Thalidomide tablets… with the number of limb defects and there was a direct correlation.
"The bigger the amount of pills in each state the higher the number of limb defects."
In the same 2005-2010 period, 5.8 million Thalidomide pills were distributed across Brazil.
"We had about 100 cases in these six years similar to Thalidomide syndrome," says another of the research team, Dr Fernanda Vianna.
"We couldn't evaluate each case, we cannot say that all are cases of Thalidomide syndrome, but this type of defect is very rare."
Poor health education and widespread sharing of medicines may be to blame, she says.
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