Survivor: German firm's apology for birth defects drug 'not enough'

(CNN) - The head of a survivors' group Saturday dismissed an apology issued five decades later by the German manufacturer of a drug that caused thousands of babies to be born with disabilities.

Pharmaceutical firm Gruenenthal apologized Friday for the first time over its drug, thalidomide , which caused babies to be born with shorter arms and legs after their mothers took it during pregnancy in the 1950s and 1960s.

It was sold to women to counter morning sickness, according to the Thalidomide Trust, a UK body set up in the 1970s to help those affected.

While some children whose mothers took the drug were born with one or more affected limbs, others suffered heart problems, damaged hearing or eyesight, and in some cases, brain damage.

The head of a survivors' group Saturday dismissed an apology issued five decades later by the German manufacturer of a drug that caused thousands of babies to be born with disabilities.

Pharmaceutical firm Gruenenthal apologized Friday for the first time over its drug, thalidomide , which caused babies to be born with shorter arms and legs after their mothers took it during pregnancy in the 1950s and 1960s.

It was sold to women to counter morning sickness, according to the Thalidomide Trust, a UK body set up in the 1970s to help those affected.

While some children whose mothers took the drug were born with one or more affected limbs, others suffered heart problems, damaged hearing or eyesight, and in some cases, brain damage.