A special committee of scientific experts was appointed here by the Ministry of Health today to investigate claims that the drug Thalidomide has been used effectively in this country to relieve patients suffering from cancer.
Thalidomide is a German-discovered tranquilizer that was believed through a series of cases in Europe and America last year to have been responsible for the birth of badly deformed babies, after having been taken by pregnant mothers.
The first case to be probed here is one concerning an elderly woman at Zichron Yaacov. A physician in that town prescribed the drug for the cancer patient, who is reported to have recovered. Several other cases of recovery from caner in Israel, through the use of Thalidomide, have also been reported. Thalidomide is used in Israel for research purposes under the control of the Ministry of Health.
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