Modern packaging, about 2006

Thalidomide is a drug. It was used as a sedative. It also had uses for other illnesses.

It was mainly prescribed to pregnant women in the 1950s and 1960s, to help with sleep, until it was found to be a teratogen (that is: birth deformity causing substance). The drug can cause birth defects in rats, primates and humans. Before the drug was released, not enough tests were done.