(dpa files) - An undated filer shows a disabled child in a hospital in Hanover, West Germany. At the end of the 1950s and beginning of the 1960s mothers, who had taken the tranquilizer named 'Contergan' during pregnancy, gave birth to children with birth defects and deformities. About 8,000 to 12,000 of 'Contergan children' were born worldwide, many of them died. The company Gruenenthal sold the sleeping pills, which contained the substance Thalidomide, since 1 October 1957 without having tested the effects during pregnancy. Only after a newspaper article was published in November 1961, the company reacted and withdrew the pills.
