He added: "The theory that is now accepted, and has been for several years, is that the best explanation for thalidomide damage is that the developing nervous system within the embryo was poisoned at the stage the critical nerve endings start to emerge. The fact that this is a nerve poison explains all the known effects - not just limb damage but heart disease and massive central nervous system damage. There was not an organ in the body that could not be trashed by thalidomide."
Ray Stokes, a professor of business history at Glasgow University who is researching the history of thalidomide, said: "I cannot comment on these latest findings, but clearly there does seem to e consensus that it has to do with damage to the neural crest at a particularly important time in the gestation of the child that was the problem. The damage that was done to babies was only part of the damage that was done by the drug."
Source-ANI
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