Campaigners who claim hormone pregnancy tests damaged their children have written to the Prime Minister asking him to help them get justice after a 50-year wait.
The Record has led the way in reporting on those affected by Primodos, made by drug firm Schering and given to women from 1958-78 before it was taken off the market amid fears of a link to birth defects.
Marie Lyon, chairwoman of the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests, tells Boris Johnson in the letter: “You are in a position to finally provide justice to the thousands of women who were given an unnecessary drug.
“You are in a position to ensure the regulatory failures of the Committees on Safety of Medicines and Safety of Drugs are finally acknowledged.
“You are in a position to ensure women are never treated as experimental animals, being given a drug in early pregnancy which is 40 times the strength of an oral contraceptive.”
Primodos was taken off the market in 1978. By that point, 1.5million women had taken it.
Last year, the UK Government ordered the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review into health scandals, including Primodos. It is expected to conclude next year.
Drugs firm Bayer, who bought Schering, said last night: “No new scientific knowledge has been produced which would call into question the validity of the previous assessment of there being no link between the use of Primodos and the occurrence of such congenital abnormalities.”
Last night, the PM’s office was not available for comment.
- If you have been affected by oral hormone pregnancy tests, contact jennifer.hyland@dailyrecord.co.uk
