Latest news with #Primodos
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The man who orchestrated a British medical scandal
Joanne Briggs's debut, The Scientist Who Wasn't There, is an astonishingly original memoir about truth, identity and the ethics of science. It's thrilling, unsettling – and really rather odd. Winner of the inaugural Bridport Prize for Memoir in 2023, the award that cinched the book's publication, it explores the enigmatic – if not completely bizarre – life of Briggs's father, Professor Michael Briggs, a man whose illustrious, globe-trotting scientific career concealed a vast labyrinth of deception. Born in Manchester, Professor Briggs became a research scientist who worked at NASA, an advisor to the World Health Organisation, and a successful executive in the pharmaceutical industry. On paper, his was a classic rags-to-riches story: he was a self-made, charismatic visionary who surfed the post-war technology boom. But in 1986, his career imploded when a Sunday Times exposé linked him to the hormone pregnancy test Primodos, which worked by triggering menstruation in non-pregnant women, and was alleged to have caused serious birth defects. It seemed Professor Briggs had been faking results. Things get stranger. Professor Briggs not only appears to have forged his qualifications, laundered research funds and bullied sceptical colleagues and anyone who doubted him – he may also have been a spy. He appears to have worked for the British government, possibly connected to Cold War intelligence gathering; may have been involved in espionage in East Berlin, and then somehow got caught up in the making of Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey. His death abroad, aged 51, was so sudden that Briggs speculates that there may have been some kind of cover-up. What begins, then, as a daughter's ostensibly simple search for the truth about her absent father, soon becomes a forensic and yet also fantastical investigation – part legal inquiry, part philosophical meditation. A trained lawyer, Briggs approaches the evidence as a prosecutor would: poring over professional records, interviewing colleagues and meeting with the victims of her father's lies and misconduct. Primodos involved high doses of synthetic hormones and though the causal link has never been confirmed, women who used it reported children with defects such as spina bifida, limb abnormalities, and heart issues. Briggs reveals that her father manipulated or suppressed data about these effects while being professionally involved with the pharmaceutical company producing it. But the book is also wildly surreal: Briggs imagines conversations with her father in which they debate the boundaries between science and science fiction, and the book eventually resolves into musings and reverie. The overall effect, frankly, is dizzying – pleasantly so. Briggs often hints that she herself doesn't know the difference between fact and fantasy; in a rather cryptic, ambivalent author's note, she writes: 'My memory of the past is as much made up of dreams, impressions, false beliefs, fantasies, feelings and notions as it is of facts [...] which I hope makes my memoir authentic. But is that a true story? Well, yes, it is to me.' True or not, the book defies neat categorisation. It's certainly a book about a very peculiar, unsavoury man, but it's also a vivid depiction of a world in which ambition and imagination collide, with devastating human consequences. Briggs does, at various points, express deep moral ambivalence about writing the book: she wrestles with the ethics of exposing her father's legacy, particularly given the trauma already borne by his victims. She describes a childhood overshadowed by confusion, secrecy and emotional neglect, but also moments of awe and admiration for her father. Their relationship, as reconstructed here, was fraught and complex – marked more by absence than presence, but never entirely devoid of connection or longing. The Scientist Who Wasn't There is not only an indictment of one man's lies and deceit and his descent into moral oblivion, therefore, but a study of duplicity; personal, institutional, even national and international. Briggs slowly assembles a counterbalanced, complex kind of truth, one that acknowledges the impossibility of total objectivity but which nonetheless insists on the value of the attempt. 'He only ever travelled in one direction,' Briggs writes of her father. 'Forwards, away from the smoke of burning bridges.' She, in contrast, with admirable insight and considerable nerve, turns back – to sift through the still smouldering ruins. The Scientist Who Wasn't There is published by Ithaka at £20. To order your copy for £16.99, call 0330 173 0523 or visit Telegraph Books Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
West Lothian mum calls for justice on pregnancy drug after its 'impact on daughter'
A West Lothian campaigner is calling for justice over a controversial pregnancy test drug after children have been impacted. Many women given Primodos blame it and similar drugs for causing abnormalities in babies. They have accused Labour of ignoring families, reports The Daily Record. In 2023, campaigners lost a High Court battle for compensation – leaving the claimants potentially liable for costs. READ MORE: Prince William nods to ex-Hibs star during Edinburgh visit to back homeless charity READ MORE: Edinburgh man, 31, arrested following alleged 'serious sexual assault' at city park Wilma Ord, 77, from Livingston, took the drug in 1970. Her daughter Kirsteen, 54, is deaf, severely asthmatic and has cerebral palsy. She said: 'My last MP was SNP Hannah Bardell who went out of her way to listen, to do everything she could but it feels like everything she did has been undone. 'The Labour Government has done nothing for us. They won't look at new evidence, they just won't listen to us.' Marie Lyon, of the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests, took Primodos in the early stages of her pregnancy with daughter Sarah and has been fighting for justice ever since. She said: 'I share Wilma's frustration at the apparent lack of support from the Labour Government.' Labour MP for Livingston, Gregor Poynton, has met Wilma and has joined the campaign's All-Party Parliamentary Group of MPs. Primodos was taken off the market in 1978, but 1.5million women had taken it by that point. Manufacturer Schering, now part of Bayer, has denied a link. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sent straight to your messages. A 2020 independent review found health regulators failed patients and Primodos was responsible for 'avoidable harm'. Bayer said: 'Bayer maintains that no significant new scientific knowledge has been produced that would call into question the validity of the previous assessment of there being no link between the use of Primodos and the occurrence of such congenital anomalies.' The Department of Health said: 'The Commission on Human Medicines last year concluded that there was no new evidence to support the claims that the use of hormone tests had adverse outcomes.'
Edinburgh Live
22-05-2025
- Health
- Edinburgh Live
West Lothian mum calls for justice on pregnancy drug after its 'impact on daughter'
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info A West Lothian campaigner is calling for justice over a controversial pregnancy test drug after children have been impacted. Many women given Primodos blame it and similar drugs for causing abnormalities in babies. They have accused Labour of ignoring families, reports The Daily Record. In 2023, campaigners lost a High Court battle for compensation – leaving the claimants potentially liable for costs. Wilma Ord, 77, from Livingston, took the drug in 1970. Her daughter Kirsteen, 54, is deaf, severely asthmatic and has cerebral palsy. She said: 'My last MP was SNP Hannah Bardell who went out of her way to listen, to do everything she could but it feels like everything she did has been undone. 'The Labour Government has done nothing for us. They won't look at new evidence, they just won't listen to us.' Marie Lyon, of the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests, took Primodos in the early stages of her pregnancy with daughter Sarah and has been fighting for justice ever since. She said: 'I share Wilma's frustration at the apparent lack of support from the Labour Government.' Labour MP for Livingston, Gregor Poynton, has met Wilma and has joined the campaign's All-Party Parliamentary Group of MPs. Primodos was taken off the market in 1978, but 1.5million women had taken it by that point. Manufacturer Schering, now part of Bayer, has denied a link. Join Edinburgh Live's Whatsapp Community here and get the latest news sentstraight to your messages. A 2020 independent review found health regulators failed patients and Primodos was responsible for 'avoidable harm'. Bayer said: 'Bayer maintains that no significant new scientific knowledge has been produced that would call into question the validity of the previous assessment of there being no link between the use of Primodos and the occurrence of such congenital anomalies.' The Department of Health said: 'The Commission on Human Medicines last year concluded that there was no new evidence to support the claims that the use of hormone tests had adverse outcomes.'
Daily Record
21-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Record
Controversial pregnancy drug campaigners accused Labour of ignoring parents of "affected" kids
Many women given Primodos blame it and similar drugs for causing abnormalities in babies. Campaigners calling for justice over a controversial pregnancy test drug have accused Labour of ignoring families who believe their children were affected. Many women given Primodos blame it and similar drugs for causing abnormalities in babies. In 2023, campaigners lost a High Court battle for compensation – leaving the claimants potentially liable for costs. Wilma Ord, 77, of Livingston, took the drug in 1970. Her daughter Kirsteen, 54, is deaf, severely asthmatic and has cerebral palsy. She said: 'My last MP was SNP Hannah Bardell who went out of her way to listen, to do everything she could but it feels like everything she did has been undone. 'The Labour Government has done nothing for us. They won't look at new evidence, they just won't listen to us.' Marie Lyon, of the Association for Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests, took Primodos in the early stages of her pregnancy with daughter Sarah and has been fighting for justice ever since. She said: 'I share Wilma's frustration at the apparent lack of support from the Labour Government.' Labour MP for Livingston, Gregor Poynton, has met Wilma and has joined the campaign's All-Party Parliamentary Group of MPs. Primodos was taken off the market in 1978. By that point 1.5million women had taken it. Manufacturer Schering, now part of Bayer, has denied a link. A 2020 independent review found health regulators failed patients and Primodos was responsible for 'avoidable harm'. Bayer said: 'Bayer maintains that no significant new scientific knowledge has been produced that would call into question the validity of the previous assessment of there being no link between the use of Primodos and the occurrence of such congenital anomalies.' The Department of Health said: 'The Commission on Human Medicines last year concluded that there was no new evidence to support the claims that the use of hormone tests had adverse outcomes.'
