Thalidomide survivor Faith Russell at two weeks old (left) and 11 years old.

THALIDOMIDE survivors from the United States will be visiting the island between Wednesday and Thursday this week to try and find Jamaican survivors who may be eligible for compensation before a trust that was set up to compensate them ceases operations year-end.

Thalidomide was a drug created in West Germany in 1957 and in 1958 the UK government granted licensing of the drug by Distillers Biochemicals Limited, which afforded access to the drugs in Jamaica.

It was mainly prescribed either as a sedative or for pregnant women to alleviate symptoms associated with morning sickness. However, when women took the drug during the first trimester of pregnancy, it inhibited the growth of the fetus, resulting in horrific and severe birth defects in thousands of children around the world. These children who were born between 1959 and 1962 became known as "Thalidomide babies." However, it was also discovered that the drug caused nerve damage in adults who took it as a sedative. It was subsequently banned in Germany and the UK in 1967.

Although it primarily affected babies in England and Europe, it is believed that the drug was given to pregnant women in Jamaica, and while some of the children may have died, it is believed that there are some survivors here.

"I believe that there may be at least six people in Jamaica that may have been affected by Thalidomide," Dr Martin Johnson, director of the United Kingdom-based Thalidomide Trust, told the Observer in a telephone interview.

"They will know who they are and we will know who they are once we get there," he said.

Dr Martin said there are at least 460 Thalidomide survivors in the UK and another 2,000 in Germany. He said that "Thalidomide babies" are easily identified because the effects of the drug are fairly easier to distinguish from any other congenital defects.

A number of lawsuits were filed against Distillers, but none were successful. However, some of the survivors received settlements and became beneficiaries of a new charitable trust - The Thalidomide Trust - to which Distillers paid seven annual installments of £2 million, increasing by up to 10 per cent annually for inflation.

Faith Russell, 43, a "Thalidomide baby", will be among those visiting the island next to find survivors here. Russell, who now resides in the US, lost both of her legs and has a deformed hand and believes that there may be others like her in Jamaica.

She told the Observer last week that although there are newspaper advertisements advising persons who may believe that they are "Thalidomide babies" of a meeting this week, there have been no responses so far.

"I have not gotten any contacts from anybody as yet," she said, recalling that she spent her childhood at the Sir John Golding Rehabilitation Centre in Kingston where she met other children with birth defects similar to her own. "I remember seeing other children that had the same birth defect, but in those days the people did not know about the side effects."

She added: "After December these people will not be able to benefit from the trust so I wanted to give my people the opportunity to get some help."

She pointed to the physical limitations caused by the drug, but said she has managed to persevere and has lived a good life.

"God has been good to me and I have lived a good life," said Russell, who is an entrepreneur. "The money (compensation) is not going to make the situation erase, but it will ease some of the financial burden because your body is constantly deteriorating and you need medical help."

The mother of seven said while there have been no signs of the effects of the drugs on her children, she still worries that side effects may surface some day.

Thalidomide was present under many different brand names in at least 46 countries.

For those babies who survived, birth defects included deafness, blindness, disfigurement, cleft palate and many other internal disabilities. In fact, it is estimated that between 10,000 and 20,000 babies were born disabled as a consequence of Thalidomide and that there are approximately 5,000 survivors alive today, around the world. However, there is no data on the number of babies that died.

The Thalidomide Society reported that the first settlement came in 1968 and 62 children benefited. In exchange for withdrawing negligence claims against Distillers, each child was awarded a private settlement of 40 per cent of the legal valuation of his or her disability. Subsequently, 440 children also received a private settlement similar to the 1968 settlement of 40 per cent.

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