Spain's forgotten Thalidomide victims see glimmer of hope

or decades, Spain's Thalidomide survivors have been the forgotten victims of a drug that caused deformities in some 20,000 babies worldwide after their mothers took it during pregnancy.

Once the drug's disastrous side-effects were revealed, German pharmaceutical company Gruenenthal withdrew it from the market in most countries in late 1961.

Survivors in countries such as the UK were recognised and paid compensation. But in Spain hundreds of people who believe their disabilities were caused by the drug remain unrecognised and do not get the special assistance they need to live normal lives.

Many were born long after the truth about Thalidomide had been established.

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Analia Munoz was born more than 20 years afterwards, in 1983, with short arms and legs, no ankles or hip joints and a cleft palate.

Image captionAnalia Munoz's mother (L) cannot prove she took Thalidomide

Ms Munoz lives at home near Granada with her parents, both in their mid-sixties. Ana Maria, her mother, remembers going to hospital while pregnant and being given medication. But she cannot prove she took Thalidomide.

"My husband and I both have to carry Analia up and down the stairs and help her in the bathroom. We have no real life outside the home."

Nor does Analia. "I would like to work. I have studied to be a secretary and I once had an interview, but the office wasn't practical for my needs. I am frightened about how I am going to get along when my parents aren't around and I am alone."

Why was Spain so slow to help?

Six decades after Thalidomide was launched in 1956, Spain's political parties have now united in support of proposed new legislation intended to provide the basis of proper assistance and compensation for Spanish survivors.

By 2010, the government had recognised just 24 victims, all born in the early 1960s, offering them one-off compensation payments of up to €100,000 (£84,000; $104,000).

Rafael Basterrechea, born in 1965, was one of the 24. As vice-president of Avite, the association that represents Spain's Thalidomide survivors, he is scathing about the inaction of successive governments and Gruenenthal's refusal to accept responsibility.

"They are waiting for us to die. Gruenenthal makes millions selling its drugs in this country; if the Spanish government put just a little pressure on them, we would get a deal tomorrow," he says.

Sceptical that the government is prepared to help, he calls it a national disgrace that it has taken so long to help an estimated 400 people in a country of 46 million.

"Thalidomide was on the state register of official drugs until 1975. It was not made illegal to prescribe until 1985, when a law was passed meaning the doctor had to sign that he accepted responsibility for the effects. Only then, after 1985, do the cases disappear," says Mr Basterrechea.