I seem to recall reading that Thalidomide was never approved in the US, but only in Europe. The FDA never okayed it.
The first scorpion I ever saw was in my living room in Havana. It was a big one, about 5” long. After my heart went back down where it belongs, I killed it with a running shoe, but it took me three attempts. I told a buddy at work the next day. He was the former commander of the US Special Forces SCUBA school in Panama. He said he was going through the Jungle Operations Training Course at Fort Sherman. While in the bush, he was stung by a scorpion. His trainer told him to cut the beast in half with his bayonet, then pick up the back half and rub it over the site where the stinger hit him. The trainer said that the beast had some on-board antivenon and it would neutralize the poison. I told him, that’s one theory that will go untested for me. Then a Cuban worker was my garage when we saw another one. He said the best way to keep a scorpion from stinging was to swoop down and grab it, thereby limiting the beast’s range to hurl his weapon. There is another theory that’s going to go untested.
You are right. Thalidomide hit the British especially hard though. Strangely enough, Thalidomide shows some promise in the treatment of Leprosy lesions.