Since the World's been Turning
This podcast series is a journey through history, one guided by the lyrics of Billy Joel’s song “We Didn’t Start the Fire". Join us for an educational and fun exploration of the events, people, and inventions that helped to shape the modern world during the Cold War. These roughly half-hour episodes place a microscope on each of Billy Joel’s lyrics, discovering the rich detail that helps breathe life into the past. Narrated by Robin Harrison, each episode also features interviews with guest speakers, including experts in the field and friends and family of the people being discussed. Together, we’ll learn why Billy Joel wrote the lyrics he did and hopefully come to understand what he meant when he sang “We didn’t start the fire, it was always burning, since the world’s been turning.”
Since the World's been Turning
Episode 64 - Children of Thalidomide
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NZpodz
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Episode 65
In this episode we’re looking at what is arguably the greatest medical catastrophe in recent history, the Thalidomide Scandal. A drug designed to reduce morning sickness in pregnant women, Thalidomide caused more than 10,000 children in the late 1950s and early 1960s to be born with intense physical disabilities. Pushed primarily under the name Contergan by German company Chemie Grunenthal, the history of Thalidomide is one of corporate greed, negligible accountability, and minimal consequences.
To help us explore this complex and difficult subject, we have two guests. The first, James Essinger, author of “Frankie: The Woman Who Saved Millions from Thalidomide” and Thalidomider, academic speaker Kev Donnelon