What Is Primodos Becoming Menstrual?

In the 1940’s and early 1950’s if a woman wanted to determine if she was pregnant she would submit a sample of her urine to her GP who would then send it to be injected into an African clawed frog. After being injected, if the frog produced eggs within 24 hours, the woman was deemed to be pregnant. The
‘Frog Test’ was the world’s first cheap and reliable pregnancy test and became the international standard for years.
Then, in 1958 a ‘hormonal pregnancy test’ (HPT) by the name of Primodos was manufactured by Schering – a German based Pharmaceutical Company – and became available for sale in the UK. It was advertised to be faster and more reliable that the ‘Frog Test’ in letting the woman know if she was pregnant or not, and was prescribed to
In 1975 regulators placed warnings onto the packages of the drugs, warning that it should not be used during pregnancy as it may cause malformations. However, some Doctors still prescribed Primodos as an
HPT as well as a way to regulate menstrual cycles. Primodos continued to be used in the UK until 1978, the drug was thereafter voluntarily withdrawn from the market for “commercial reasons” following the arrival of urine-based pregnancy tests. Schering, the original manufacturer of Primodos, and Bayer, which now owns the company, continue to this day to deny any link between the deformities suffered by children and the drug, as there is still no conclusive evidence that the components of Primodos were responsible for the anomalies. There are ongoing trails regarding the families getting compensation from the drug company for the damage Primodos has caused, both physically and emotionally.
A documentary, PRIMODOS: THE SECRET DRUG SCANDAL, was aired in March 2017. It highlights the trails faced by families affected by this drug. Sky News’ Senior Political Correspondent, Jason Farrell, spent six years investigating the story, before the release of the