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The letter, thought to be the first published suggestion from a doctor of teratogenicity of thalidomide in humans, was brief—only five sentences. McBride’s concerns about thalidomide were subsequently confirmed by researchers in Europe, and the drug was banned around the world, saving countless infants from being born with birth defects.
An article in The BMJ in 2016 about a documentary film chronicling the lives of people who had birth defects as a result of the drug stated: “The thalidomide scandal stands as one of the worst ever medical disasters.”2
Global recognition
For helping alert the world to the dangers of thalidomide taken during pregnancy, McBride gained global recognition. In his native Australia he was hailed as a national hero, and a glow of honour hovered over him for the following three decades. He had a thriving practice in Sydney, and he received a CBE in 1969 and the Order of Australia in 1977.
But a later chapter of McBride’s life was not so pleasant. In 1993, at the age of 65, McBride was found guilty of scientific fraud by a medical tribunal for knowingly publishing false and misleading research. He was removed from the medical register.3
William Griffith McBride was born on 25 May 1927 in Sydney, but because of his mother’s ill health he spent much of his childhood living with an aunt on a dairy farm. He studied medicine at Sydney University Medical School. After qualifying he set sail as a ship’s doctor to England, where he trained in obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of London. He became a member of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in 1954 and a fellow in 1968. In 1962 he received a doctorate of medicine from Sydney University for his work on recurrent miscarriages.
After returning from London to Australia, he worked at Launceston General Hospital in Tasmania in...