Aachen, Germany - The German company which invented the drug thalidomide confirmed Thursday it would double its compensation payout to German victims of the birth-defects scandal 50 years ago. Taken as a sedative, thalidomide was used by pregnant women. Thousands of children worldwide were born with shortened limbs or organs missing. Many are approaching 50 after low-income work careers and need expensive prosthetic aids as their joints age.
In a 1970 settlement in Germany, the worst-affected nation, the Gruenenthal company paid the equivalent of 50 million euros, but those funds have been used up. Gruenenthal, which still makes drugs, said Thursday it would put another 50 million euros in the fund.
"To me, this is an historic event," said Margit Hudelmaier, chairwoman of the German association of thalidomide victims. But she said her group's pleas for higher old-age pensions for the 2,800 survivors of 5,000 victims in Germany had not been met.
Germans were shocked last year by anniversary television programmes and newspaper reports on how the victims had often had to settle for low-income careers and were facing poverty in old age.
The reports said US and British victims had received far larger sums from Gruenenthal because of those nations' liability laws. The scandal prompted the introduction of modern drug-safety tests.
A spokeswoman for the company at Aachen near the Dutch border said the voluntary payment reflected a "moral responsibility" to the victims.
In a news release, chief executive Sebastian Wirtz said, "I'm glad that we can end decades of silence which roiled both sides."
His grandfather headed the family-owned company when thalidomide was put on the market in 1957. News reports say the company was advised by its lawyers to say nothing during the controversy, since this could be construed as an admission of legal liability.
A court called off a criminal trial of the company in 1970, ruling that the case could at most have ended in a tiny fine.
The new money will be used to pay for special thalidomide-related health aids.
The German government announced in February that it would double a monthly stipend paid to the survivors through the compensation fund.
