Large doses may have harmed foetus

PRIMODOS was given to 1.5million British women in the 1960s and 1970s to test whether or not they were pregnant.

They took two pills containing powerful doses of the hormone progesterone.

This is the same drug used in the morningafter and daily contraceptive pills, which are used to prevent pregnancy.

Experts believe the large doses caused damage to the foetus in the womb. This led to miscarriage, brain damage, spina bifida – a condi- tion whereby the spine does not properly form – and partially developed limbs.

A government medical officer at the time found women using the drug had a 20 per cent chance of having a baby with deformities.

Primodos was withdrawn from the market in 1978 after the arrival of home-based pregnancy tests that check the urine.

The German drugs giant Bayer, which owns the former manufacturer Schering, says there is no evidence the pills caused harm.