In the 1950s and 1960s, doctors gave the drug thalidomide to pregnant patients without telling them — and without FDA approval. Now those patients' children want recognition. n.pr/3VweixJ
The U.S. has more thalidomide survivors than the government admits
In the 1950s and 1960s, doctors gave the drug thalidomide to pregnant patients without telling them — and without FDA approval. Now those patients' children want recognition.
n.pr
September 26, 2026 at 1:33 PM
In the 1950s and 1960s, doctors gave the drug thalidomide to pregnant patients without telling them — and without FDA approval. Now those patients' children want recognition. n.pr/3VweixJ
every public health agency is now run by somebody called like Jeff Thalidomide
NEW: He called Covid vaccines "the most failing medical product in the history of medical products."
Now he's running a C.D.C. task force reviewing them.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/h...
Now he's running a C.D.C. task force reviewing them.
www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/h...
Covid Vaccine Opponent Tapped to Lead Federal Review Team
www.nytimes.com
August 23, 2025 at 2:04 AM
every public health agency is now run by somebody called like Jeff Thalidomide
Another one of my heroes has died: Morton Mintz. He uncovered the Thalidomide scandal, among other astonishing scoops. www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...
Morton Mintz, Post reporter with a muckraker spirit, dies at 103
A pioneer in consumer affairs journalism, he helped expose the deformity-causing hazards posed by thalidomide, a once-popular drug for morning sickness.
www.washingtonpost.com
July 28, 2025 at 9:45 PM
Another one of my heroes has died: Morton Mintz. He uncovered the Thalidomide scandal, among other astonishing scoops. www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2...
Thalidomide is a common trope (lie) in propaganda from antivaxxers and other science deniers.
Thalidomide was not FDA approved in the United States until 1998 - it was never an approved or prescribable drug before then - and only then for leprosy and later cancer (it was never allowed in pregnancy)
Thalidomide was not FDA approved in the United States until 1998 - it was never an approved or prescribable drug before then - and only then for leprosy and later cancer (it was never allowed in pregnancy)
Kennedy (I have to believe intentionally) misrepresents the history of thalidomide and Frances Oldham Kelsey's contributions by suggesting that the medication was approved in the US. It never was. Precisely because Kelsey intervened to prevent that because of a lack of safety data in pregnancy.
January 30, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Thalidomide is a common trope (lie) in propaganda from antivaxxers and other science deniers.
Thalidomide was not FDA approved in the United States until 1998 - it was never an approved or prescribable drug before then - and only then for leprosy and later cancer (it was never allowed in pregnancy)
Thalidomide was not FDA approved in the United States until 1998 - it was never an approved or prescribable drug before then - and only then for leprosy and later cancer (it was never allowed in pregnancy)
Thalidomide is here to stay. We need to stop fearmongering about Thalidomide and start finding the ways that Thalidomide can be used ethically and to support our causes. Naysayers need to realize that this technology is inevitable.
ZipDisk is here to stay. We need to stop fearmongering about ZipDisk and start finding the ways that ZipDisk can be used ethically and to support our causes. Naysayers need to realize that this technology is inevitable.
Betamax is here to stay. We need to stop fearmongering about Betamax and start finding the ways that Betamax can be used ethically and to support our causes. Naysayers need to realize that this technology is inevitable.
May 22, 2026 at 1:06 AM
Thalidomide is here to stay. We need to stop fearmongering about Thalidomide and start finding the ways that Thalidomide can be used ethically and to support our causes. Naysayers need to realize that this technology is inevitable.
Frances Kelsey, the FDA official whose work in the early 1960s kept thalidomide from ravaging the US population as it had the European and Canadian ones, and led directly to the Kefauver-Harris Amendment, was born 112 years ago today. Her story is more important now than ever.
tinyurl.com/4zh9e9p6
tinyurl.com/4zh9e9p6
Between the Children and Catastrophe, A Woman: Frances O. Kelsey’s Victory Over Thalidomide.
In September of 1960, the American pharmaceutical company Richardson-Merrell submitted their application to the FDA for the approval of Europe’s new wonder drug, thalidomide, to be introduced to the A...
tinyurl.com
July 24, 2026 at 2:30 PM
Frances Kelsey, the FDA official whose work in the early 1960s kept thalidomide from ravaging the US population as it had the European and Canadian ones, and led directly to the Kefauver-Harris Amendment, was born 112 years ago today. Her story is more important now than ever.
tinyurl.com/4zh9e9p6
tinyurl.com/4zh9e9p6
People will say we shouldn’t trust pharmaceutical regulation because thalidomide was approved.
Thanks to her 👇 thalidomide was not approved in the United States until 1998 - it was never even prescribable here before then - and only then for leprosy and later cancer (was never allowed in pregnancy)
Thanks to her 👇 thalidomide was not approved in the United States until 1998 - it was never even prescribable here before then - and only then for leprosy and later cancer (was never allowed in pregnancy)
My #Altcitizen today is this queen, Frances Oldham Kelsey. She was one of the first Medical reviewers at the FDA🧵. www.fda.gov/about-fda/fd...
Frances O. Kelsey
Women pioneers at FDA
www.fda.gov
May 15, 2025 at 4:17 PM
People will say we shouldn’t trust pharmaceutical regulation because thalidomide was approved.
Thanks to her 👇 thalidomide was not approved in the United States until 1998 - it was never even prescribable here before then - and only then for leprosy and later cancer (was never allowed in pregnancy)
Thanks to her 👇 thalidomide was not approved in the United States until 1998 - it was never even prescribable here before then - and only then for leprosy and later cancer (was never allowed in pregnancy)
You ever have to look up a word to understand how someone was being insulted? Because I remember some GC on Twitter calling Graham a "thalidomide baby" and looking up what thalidomide was and being utterly shocked at the cruelty of using that as an insult.
May 16, 2025 at 10:21 AM
You ever have to look up a word to understand how someone was being insulted? Because I remember some GC on Twitter calling Graham a "thalidomide baby" and looking up what thalidomide was and being utterly shocked at the cruelty of using that as an insult.
3/ Thalidomide Tragedy (1950s–60s):
Prescribed to pregnant women for morning sickness without proper testing, thalidomide caused severe birth defects. Ignoring pregnancy in drug trials led to global tragedy, changing drug safety regulations forever.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21507989/
Prescribed to pregnant women for morning sickness without proper testing, thalidomide caused severe birth defects. Ignoring pregnancy in drug trials led to global tragedy, changing drug safety regulations forever.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21507989/
Thalidomide: the tragedy of birth defects and the effective treatment of disease - PubMed
Thalidomide was a widely used drug in the late 1950s and early 1960s for the treatment of nausea in pregnant women. It became apparent in the 1960s that thalidomide treatment resulted in severe birth ...
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
February 5, 2025 at 7:48 PM
3/ Thalidomide Tragedy (1950s–60s):
Prescribed to pregnant women for morning sickness without proper testing, thalidomide caused severe birth defects. Ignoring pregnancy in drug trials led to global tragedy, changing drug safety regulations forever.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21507989/
Prescribed to pregnant women for morning sickness without proper testing, thalidomide caused severe birth defects. Ignoring pregnancy in drug trials led to global tragedy, changing drug safety regulations forever.
pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21507989/
GPT-4o: the thalidomide of LLMs
yup, once again 4o
NEW: A bipolar man's mental health was deteriorating. ChatGPT affirmed his religious delusions, telling him that he was Jesus Christ and that it was God, according to a new lawsuit.
When the man became suicidal, ChatGPT told him: “You've made your choice."
futurism.com/artificial-i...
When the man became suicidal, ChatGPT told him: “You've made your choice."
futurism.com/artificial-i...
July 2, 2026 at 7:12 PM
GPT-4o: the thalidomide of LLMs
Watch him reinstitute thalidomide as a nausea drug for pregnant women
December 14, 2024 at 4:50 AM
Watch him reinstitute thalidomide as a nausea drug for pregnant women
Why the f*ck are you promoting this claptrap without pointing out thalidomide wasn't rigorously tested, drug safety testing was completely redrawn because of the thalidomide disaster.
September 24, 2025 at 7:55 AM
Why the f*ck are you promoting this claptrap without pointing out thalidomide wasn't rigorously tested, drug safety testing was completely redrawn because of the thalidomide disaster.
hearing great things about thalidomide!
March 5, 2026 at 12:54 PM
hearing great things about thalidomide!
I’m old enough to remember something like this being career-ending. An unprompted comparison of paracetamol and *thalidomide*??
"We were told thalidomide was a safe drug and it wasn't..."
Nigel Farage says he has 'no idea' if Donald Trump is right about paracetamol being linked to autism.
Nigel Farage says he has 'no idea' if Donald Trump is right about paracetamol being linked to autism.
September 24, 2025 at 8:38 AM
I’m old enough to remember something like this being career-ending. An unprompted comparison of paracetamol and *thalidomide*??
RFK Jr.: pregnant women should take thalidomide, not Tylenol
September 5, 2025 at 11:57 PM
RFK Jr.: pregnant women should take thalidomide, not Tylenol
Thalidomide...
October 18, 2023 at 12:52 PM
Thalidomide...
Frances Kelsey saved thousands of lives by resisting pressure to approve thalidomide in the US. There have been tens to hundreds of thousands of preventable Covid-19 deaths caused by the anti-public health movement that Bhattacharya helped to lead.
New HHS Hall of Heroes: John Snow, Ignaz Semmelweis, Joseph Lister, Alice Stewart, Herbert Needleman, Frances Kelsey, Rachel Carson, Jay Bhattacharya
bit.ly/4hg6Rn0
bit.ly/4hg6Rn0
ADM Brian Christine, MD (@ADM_Christine) on X
Yesterday at @HHSGov, we unveiled the Hall of Heroes—honoring men and women who had the courage to pursue truth in science, medicine, and public health, even when the evidence challenged convention an...
bit.ly
September 26, 2026 at 10:19 PM
Frances Kelsey saved thousands of lives by resisting pressure to approve thalidomide in the US. There have been tens to hundreds of thousands of preventable Covid-19 deaths caused by the anti-public health movement that Bhattacharya helped to lead.
Thalidomide would like a word...
RFK Jr.’s deputy Jim O’Neill wants to skip clinical trials for medication efficacy and just start selling them to Americans to test if they work post-marketing. No placebo group. Just desperate people trying out snake oil so his company can make money from you being a guinea pig.
January 26, 2025 at 9:55 PM
Thalidomide would like a word...
Thalidomide…maybe these morons should look it up.
April 1, 2026 at 2:49 PM
Thalidomide…maybe these morons should look it up.
Thalidomide is not a Vaccine.
Maybe you should do some actual research...
Maybe you should do some actual research...
December 31, 2024 at 3:56 PM
Thalidomide is not a Vaccine.
Maybe you should do some actual research...
Maybe you should do some actual research...
Thalidomide is still in use. Just not in pregnancy.
September 24, 2025 at 8:32 AM
Thalidomide is still in use. Just not in pregnancy.
Thalidomide entered the chat.
June 14, 2026 at 12:40 PM
Thalidomide entered the chat.
/3 I do not thus mean to diminish the legitimate arguments that Congress is both too stupid and too busy hearing antisemitism on campus hearings to evaluate whether or not Thalidomide is bad.
June 13, 2024 at 2:35 PM
/3 I do not thus mean to diminish the legitimate arguments that Congress is both too stupid and too busy hearing antisemitism on campus hearings to evaluate whether or not Thalidomide is bad.
Some other new technologies that were just "put out in the world" without too much testing:
Radium, tetraethyllead, chlorinated fluorocarbons, thalidomide
Radium, tetraethyllead, chlorinated fluorocarbons, thalidomide
October 17, 2025 at 9:11 AM
Some other new technologies that were just "put out in the world" without too much testing:
Radium, tetraethyllead, chlorinated fluorocarbons, thalidomide
Radium, tetraethyllead, chlorinated fluorocarbons, thalidomide