Beyond Thalidomide: Birth Defects Explained [Hardcover]

Janet Mccredie (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 2007 | ISBN-10: 1853157414 | ISBN-13: 978-1853157417 | Edition: 1

How do birth defects happen? Why does thalidomide mutilate the embryo? In this challenging text the author takes a new approach to the resulting disordered anatomy and demonstrates that the skeletal defects seen are inconsistent with primary bone disease, but indicate primary damage to the embryonic sensory nerves - neural crest injury. This book will be of interest to those involved with birth defects - obstetricians, neonatologists, paediatricians - and also neurologists, scientists in teratology and developmental biology, and thalidomiders themselves.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 418 pages
• Publisher: Royal Society of Medicine; 1 edition (October 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853157414
• ISBN-13: 978-1853157417
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 7.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,517,808 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for scientists and laypeople alike, March 12, 2011

By 

H. Stuurwold "Queen of Sheba" (Kalamazoo, Michigan,USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Beyond Thalidomide: Birth Defects Explained (Hardcover)

Anyone who is aware of world events in 1961 knows of the terrible Thalidomide disaster, in which babies were born with severe birth defects of all kinds, but most notably foreshortened arms and legs. Beginning in the late 1950's Thalidomide was marketed as a prescription medicine to alleviate morning sickness in pregnant women. What was not known then is that Thalidomide is a potent neurotoxin which caused the terrible congenital defects aforementioned. As soon as scientists determined that Thalidomide was the cause of the sudden increase in these rare birth defects, the drug was banned in most countries. So, why a book about Thalidomide now, 50 years later? The author has two reasons; first, to show how Thalidomide probably caused the damage; second, to give some closure to the distressed parents and the children affected by Thalidomide.

This is a very scholarly book but yet accessible to the layperson with a good scientific background. The author treats the "Thalidomiders" (affected children and their parents) with great kindness and respect, all the while building her case for her idea of the way Thalidomide might have acted to cause the congenital defects. The scientific community's interest in Thalidomide-caused congenital defects has waned to nearly nil at the present time, and many of the original studies and documents are difficult to find. The author has done a good job of searching out these documents and gathering them into one book. Lately there has been interest in using Thalidomide to treat certain aspects of Hansen's Disease (leprosy). Is this a good idea, given what the author presents? You be the judge.