Aug. 1, 1962 - There is no established procedure for persons who find the drug Thalidomide in their medicine cabinets to “turn it in.” However, Commissioner George P. Larrick of the FDA said that the medicine, a tranquilizer found to be responsible for deformity in babies when taken by pregnant women, could be sent to his agency. The question came up when President Kennedy said at his news conference that “every woman in this country, I think, must be aware that it is most important that they check their medicine cabinet, that they turn it in.” The President presumably meant that if Thalidomide was found it should be destroyed or disposed of so there was no possibility of it being used by anyone.
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