Summary
Thalidomide is amongst the most notorious drugs of all time. The majority of accounts of its distribution to the early 1960s focus on those countries where thalidomide caused the most extensive damage, most notably in economically developed countries. This article raises, however, questions about intended, explored, initiated or sometimes thwarted markets for thalidomide-containing preparations outside ‘the West’. It does so by focusing on Southern African markets for thalidomide, particularly those in Angola, Mozambique, (now) Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa. We place differences in the drug’s distribution channels in the context of the political economies of pharmaceuticals markets in the region in the decades after World War 2 and argue that colonial legacies and circuits of commerce can contribute to an understanding of why some regions ‘escaped a thalidomide disaster’. Finally, from late 1961 through 1962, we chart Southern African attempts to establish, or deny, the local presence of the teratogen.
An inter-disciplinary approach to the energy transition in South Africa