The Day's Dumpster Fire
In this podcast, Kara and Ed regale history's greatest mess ups. They do not celebrate humanity's successes but its most fantastic failures! This show is not dedicated to those who have accomplished incredible things, but to those who have accomplished incredible things and how they royally screwed things up in the process.
You might ask why they are doing this podcast: it's because you've botched up the best laid plans and you know what? THAT'S OKAY!
Let this show help you navigate the mishaps that you have come across where there is no clear answer available.
So sit back, relax, and listen about people who messed up way more than what you could of possibly imagine.
The Day's Dumpster Fire
Thalidomide: Morning Sickness and Nazis Fire - Episode 44
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Have you or someone you love every had the misfortune of being pregnant and having to deal with morning sickness? Some women are lucky and they never get it. Some women get it mildly in their first trimesters. Other women are unlucky to have a severe case of it in their first trimester. And some women are cursed with morning sickness through their entire pregnancy.
In the 1950s and going into the 1960s, men returning home from the front lines of World War II were "making up for lost time away from the women of their lives and were proceeding to make lots of babies. These babies would later become known as the "Baby Boomers." As a result of this massive generation addition to the world's population, millions of women were getting pregnant and many were suffering from intense debilitating morning sickness.
With so few doctors left in Europe after the war, something had to be done to get these women some sort of relief for their morning sickness. That relief came in the form of a special medication that essentially eliminated morning sickness in all of Europe.
Thalidomide was touted as being so safe that it was sold over the counter and even the workers at the factory that made the stuff were given free bottles to take up.
This went fine until more and more babies were being born with terrible birth defects. It seemed like one after another, baby after baby was born with disfigured arms and legs or born without them in general. Mortality rates skyrocketed throughout Europe and many were left wondering what what causing all these birth defects. When the science community got together, they quickly drew a line to the common factor among all these birth defects... Thalidomide.
However, the manufacturer of this medication chose to hide the evidence and deny the connection. They opted to ignore the problem and even gaslight thousands and thousands of desperate mothers looking for answers to their problems.
It doesn't help that the men who created this drug were former Nazi scientist who were in trouble for crimes against humanity during the height of the holocaust!
Join Ed and Kara as they explore difficult terrain that is the Thalidomide Generation and how a failure to test one thing thoroughly upended the lives of over 100,000.
For more details and images tied to Thalidomide be sure to check out The Day's Dumpster Fire website. Be sure to send Kara and Ed an email at thedaysdumpsterfire@gmail.com and let them know of new ideas you might have or to simply let them know how they're doing.
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