This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
News
Diageo’s $89m thalidomide settlement approved
Diageo’s AU$89 million settlement with thalidomide victims living in Australia and New Zealand has been approved by the Supreme Court of Victoria today.
An AU$89 million settlement between Diageo and Thalidomide victims living in Australia and New Zealand has been approved today
It was announced in December that Diageo had agreed to pay the amount to those who had suffered effects of the dangerous morning sickness drug thalidomide.
Between 1960 and 1961, the drug was distributed in Australia and New Zealand by The Distillers Company, an organisation which became part of Diageo in 1997.
The drug was administered to pregnant women suffering from morning sickness during the late 1950s and 1960s, eventually being pulled from shelves in 1961 due to the discovery that it led to severe birth defects.
More than 100 Australian and New Zealand victims will receive compensation from Diageo after the Supreme Court of Victoria, in Melbourne, signed off the deal today.
Last year, Diageo reached a multi-million dollar settlement with Melbourne woman Lynette Rowe, who was born without arms and legs.
Across the world, an estimated 10,000 babies were born with physical deformities after their mothers took thalidomide.