Thalidomide

In June of 1998 the Food and Drug Administration approved Thalidomide for use in the United States. Before this, in 1960, the FDA had banned the use of the drug even though it was widely used throughout the world as a sedative. Shortly after the FDA refused to approve the drug, evidence emerged that it caused extreme birth defects in the babies of women who had used the drug when pregnant. Thalidomide has been proven effective for the treatment of leprosy, cancer, and many other diseases. However, some doctors are critical of the FDA's approval of the drug in 1998, despite strict controls on the drug's use, because of the potential for more babies to be born with the birth defects caused by the drug.