Australian Govt to Apologize for Thalidomide Tragedy

What’s the story?

• The Australian government will issue a formal national apology to those harmed by thalidomide, a morning sickness drug that caused severe congenital disabilities in the 1950s and 1960s.
• Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will deliver the apology on Nov. 29 in Parliament, and a memorial site will be revealed near Lake Burley Griffin, Canberra, the following day.
• In a statement, Albanese said:

"In giving this apology, we will acknowledge all those babies who died and the families who mourn them, as well as those who survived but whose lives were made so much harder by the effects of this terrible drug."

What is thalidomide?

• Thalidomide, marketed as a sedative for pregnant women in the 1950s, led to birth defects in over 10,000 children worldwide, including limb issues, blindness, deafness, and malformed organs. About 40% of these children died within a year.
• The drug, which was approved without testing on pregnant women, prompted a global medical oversight overhaul and the establishment of Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration, the U.K.'s Medicines Act 1968, and the U.S.'s Drug Efficacy Study Implementation to reclassify drugs already on the market.

What are national apologies?

• A national apology is a collective, political, or intra-state apology that typically involves naming a historical offense, condemning past behavior, and requesting forgiveness.
• A national apology can help reconcile those harmed with the nation that caused the harm. The 2019 Senate committee report on thalidomide found that survivors believed Australian governments had a "moral obligation to apologize."
• Australian Health Minister Mark Butler said:

"While we cannot change the past or end the physical suffering, I hope these important next steps of recognition and apology will help heal some of the emotional wounds."

• Political scientist Thomas Berger argues that national apologies should accompany various policies, including compensation, education, commemoration, and guidelines for remembering the past in museums, cultural sites, holidays, and events.

National apologies in the U.S.

• In recent decades, the U.S. has apologized for significant historical actions.
• In 1988, President Ronald Reagan signed the Civil Liberties Act, formally apologizing and providing $20,000 in compensation to the 120,000 Japanese-Americans and permanent residents interned during World War II.
• In 1997, President Bill Clinton formally apologized for the Tuskegee Experiment, a study that involved unethical experiments on hundreds of black men in Alabama to understand the long-term progression of syphilis.
• In 2008, the U.S. House of Representatives issued an apology for the institution of slavery and the era of Jim Crow.

Do you support national apologies? 

-Laura Woods

(Photo credit: iStock/MStudioImages)