German thalidomide victims go on hunger strike

By Josie Cox

BERLIN (Reuters) - Half a century after the drug thalidomide was launched, three German victims have started a hunger strike in a church to back their demand for an increase in their compensation payments.

Thalidomide, sold under brand names including Contergan and Distaval, was first produced by the privately owned German group Gruenenthal in the 1950s and marketed internationally to pregnant women to combat morning sickness.

It proved to have grave side effects and some 10,000 babies were born with missing or malformed limbs or defective inner organs. An estimated 3,500 victims are still alive today.

"Politicians have simply forgotten about us while we are crying for help," said thalidomide victim Udo Herterich, spokesman for the International Contergan Thalidomide Alliance (ICTA) and a close friend of the strikers.

Herterich says the monthly compensation of 1,090 euros ($1,600) given to victims in Germany is not enough.

"We want at least 3,200 euros. That's what they get in England," he said.

The three strikers, two male and one female, have set up camp in the basement of a church in Bergisch Gladbach, northwest Germany, and have survived on water and tea since September 18.

The three, joined in their hunger strike by a victim's mother, decided to protest because they were unhappy with the result of an appeal they made in May to the Family Ministry, said Herterich.

A spokeswoman for the Ministry said it had responded to the appeal by doubling the compensation in July to 1,090 euros per month from a maximum of 545 euros. She declined to comment on the hunger strike or on comparisons with payouts elsewhere.

Several hundred victims from around the world plan to stage a demonstration in the western city of Cologne on Saturday.

"We're sick of being treated like this, and my friends are determined to go hungry until the bitter end, even if that means dying," Herterich said.

Victims have held demonstrations before, notably in April when the ICTA demanded the German government distribute 4 billion euros in compensation for the victims worldwide.

(Editing by Tim Pearce)

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