US thalidomide survivors say government undercounts their numbers

A number of Americans affected by thalidomide say the true scale of the drug's impact in the United States is larger than official figures acknowledge, according to reporting on the issue.

In the 1950s and 1960s, doctors administered thalidomide to pregnant patients without informing them of what they were taking, and without approval from the Food and Drug Administration, the report says.

Decades later, the children of those patients are now seeking formal recognition of what happened, arguing that the government's accounting of survivors falls short of the actual number affected.

Historical context

Thalidomide became one of the most notorious drug scandals of the twentieth century after it was linked to severe birth defects in patients who took it during pregnancy, prompting reforms to drug approval processes in several countries.