Prosthetics Artificial limbs for a thalidomide child, 1961-1965

Prosthetics Artificial limbs for a thalidomide child, 1961-1965. From the DHSS Limb Fitting Centre at Roehampton, London. During the 1960s, the drug thalidomide, formerly used as a sedative, was found to produce congenital deformities in children when taken by the mother during early pregnancy. Children were commonly born with the absence of the long bones of the arms, with the legs and feet often also being affected. The Limb Fitting Centre at Roehampton, London, creates and fits prosthetic limbs for children affected by thalidomide. ©SSPL/Science Museum