The rabbit dies? Thalidomite.

Kalyke

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
1,850
Reaction score
182
Location
New Mexico, USA
Speaking of pregnancy? A woman in the late 60's early 70's needed to go to the doctors to have her pregnancy test taken. Can anyone fill me in on this method? How long did it take? was it accurate? The woman who is taking this test has been using sleeping pills and has already had a thalidomite baby. She does not ever want it to happen again, but unfortunatly does not yet know the connection between the drugs and the birth defect.
 

Fenika

Kind Benefactor
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Jun 3, 2007
Messages
24,311
Reaction score
5,109
Location
-
Didn't they figure out the connection pretty fast? Or was she one of the first to get pregnant on thalidomiDe and had a quick turn around or ???
 

eyeblink

Barbara says hi
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Nov 14, 2007
Messages
6,358
Reaction score
892
Location
Aldershot, UK
I remember some of the thalidomide scandal. In particular I remember being worried about a family friend who was pregnant. The baby was born (entirely healthily) in March 1973, so I would have been eight at the time - thalidomide must have still been in the news then. As it turns out, I needn't have worried - the drug was withdrawn in 1961 in the UK, though compensation wasn't granted to those affected until 1968, due to a newspaper campaign. A well-known person affected is the actor/musician Mat Fraser, born 1962.

According to Wikipedia, only seventeen thalidomide babies were born in the US, mainly because the FDA blocked the application to market the drug.
 

Puma

Retired and loving it!
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 21, 2006
Messages
7,340
Reaction score
1,535
Location
Central Ohio
Hi UseHerName - As I understand, the rabbit test - urine from the possibly pregnant woman was injected into a rabbit - if the rabbit died, the woman was pregnant. I can remember my aunt calling my mother when she hoped her daughter was pregnant and saying happily "the rabbit died" (unfortunately, my cousin wasn't pregnant, she was carrying a grapefruit sized tumor.) Test results obviously took a couple days. I suspect if you Google "rabbit test" you should find out everything you want to know.

And thalidomide - was a prescription drug given to ease morning sickness, so it wasn't in general use. Puma
 

raburrell

Treguna Makoidees Trecorum SadisDee
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 24, 2009
Messages
6,902
Reaction score
3,781
Age
50
Location
MA
Website
www.rebeccaburrell.com
FWIW, the rabbit would die because they'd do surgery to remove its ovaries, not because of anything the injection would do to it. There's an episode of M*A*S*H* where Radar convinces the 4077th actually save the rabbit when Hot Lips thinks she's preggo.
(eta: you can certainly live without ovaries [more than half the population does, of course], it just wasn't considered worth the trouble to save a lab animal.)
 

Kalyke

Super Member
Registered
Joined
May 7, 2008
Messages
1,850
Reaction score
182
Location
New Mexico, USA
And thalidomide - was a prescription drug given to ease morning sickness, so it wasn't in general use. Puma
Not so, it was in an over the counter sleeping aid-- a secondary use was to ease morning sickness