Introduction - Uppsala Monitoring Centre

(Federal Constitutional Court) final position leaves no doubt that most of the charges
brought against Chemie Grünenthal by the prosecution were considered to have
been legally substantiated and the company paid 114 million marks in a settlement,
the court and prosecutors thought that it was not in the general interest to pursue
the trial (Sjöstrom & Nilsson, 1972). Dr Roy Goulding, who was a consultant Clinical
Toxicologist at Guy’s Hospital and a senior Medical Officer at the UK Ministry of
Health, said ‘It’s all very well to say we should have tested it more thoroughly, but
we had no means at all for testing for teratogenicity at that time and it took a long
while to get any such procedure.’ (Goulding, 1997). The Grünenthal website states,
‘The Grand Criminal Court of the Landgericht Aachen,... Having reviewed all the
charges, the court closed the proceedings with a judgement of minor fault.’
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contergan-Skandal. Accessed 9th April 2013.
Allergic reactions
2640 BC The first mention of a possible case of anaphylaxis was in 2640 BC
when Pharaoh Menes died after a wasp sting.
49 BC Carus in 49 BC spoke of ‘what is food to one to some becomes
fierce poison’ is the first reference to idiosyncrasy.
1586 Marcello Donati described angio-oedema in a patient after eating
eggs (Juhlin, 2000).
1740 Synonyms for urticaria were: Uredo (Plinius), Knidosis (Hippocrates)
and Zedler used by Urbiano in 1740.
1780 Charles Webster in 1780 referred to ‘urticaria medicamentis vix
unquam indiget’ [There have almost always been remedies for nettle
rash] (Webster, 1780).
1800 Cullen quotes Heberden as saying that urticaria may be caused by wild
valerian root (still used as a mild tranquillizer in 2009), eating of fish not
sufficiently dressed, mussels, shrimps and even honey, and the kernels
of fruits (Cullen, 1800). Dr Lancelot Aery used similar words in a
pamphlet dated 1774. He also added Occ. Vel Chel. Cancer, which
may refer to allergy to an eye ointment (Aery, 1774).
1839 Magendie produced anaphylaxis in dogs when he gave them
repeated albumen injections (Magendie, 1839).
1852 Miale called it ‘idiopathic idiosyncrasy’. (Miale, 1852).
1870 Engelmann described a case of mercurial eczema who had ‘swelling
of the face… itching’, which suggests angioedema (Engelmann,
1870).
1878 Heilein referred to sodium salicylate causing ‘oedema of both
eyelids, intolerable itching and diffusely scattered wheals’. (Heinlein,