http://www.yourdictionary.com/ahd/t/t0140100.html
Thalidomide
A sedative and hypnotic drug, C13H10N2O4, withdrawn from general use after it was found to cause severe birth defects when taken during pregnancy. It is sometimes prescribed to treat leprosy.
Actually, the wonder drug could cure some kinds of cancer. The problem is that it came into being at the beginning of the politically correct time in our history where all drugs had to be available to all people. So non-childbearing aged woman and all men could not get the drug at the exclusion of childbearing aged woman. It was a damn travesty.
LOL! I told you I can not spell, and it look like my ears needed checking as well when I was a little girl. It always sounded like they started that word with a V.