'They will watch me die,' says Gary Skyner

A comedian has entered his 13th day of a hunger strike demanding £150million compensation for victims of thalidomide.

Gary Skyner was the second person in Britain to be born with deformities as a result of the drug, prescribed to treat morning sickness in the late 1950s.

He wants German company Grunenthal, which developed and sold the drug, to pay £10million a year for the next 15 years to be shared among the 468 surviving UK victims.

The company has paid out to German victims following a criminal trial, but not in the UK.

Liverpool-based Skyner, who has been a comedian for more than 25 years, has already lost more than a stone from his hunger strike. He has only drunk liquids and taken vitamin supplements since January 21.

He said he was ‘very very tired,’ and ‘feeling isolated’, adding: ‘I can't believe these people are going to let me die and sit back and watch. I honestly don't think Grunenthal give a stuff, they are prepared to watch me die.’

He said the money would give victims of the drug ‘dignity and financial assurance’ in their later life. The drug was available from 1958 to 1961 in the UK, so survivors are now in their 50s.

Skyner, 55, said: ‘There has been families ruined, exploitation of victims, both physically and financially and quite frankly enough is enough.’

He has been backed in his campaign by local MP Louise Ellman, who has written to German Chancellor Angela Merkel over the issue, and his friend, Royle Family star Ricky Tomlinson, who said: ‘They’ve got to hold their hands up and take full responsibility. It’s about time that the makers of thalidomide came clean and gave them a once-and-for-all payoff to really show how sorry they are that all this happened.’ He added that the settlement Skyner seeks is ‘a drop in the ocean’ for Grunenthal.

The company has a foundation in Germany that provides financial assistance for victims. The website of that foundation said: ’Grunenthal and its family shareholders greatly regret the consequences of the thalidomide tragedy. It is a matter of moral importance to Grünenthal to be actively involved in charitable efforts to improve the situation of thalidomide victims on a sustainable basis.’

British victims receive annual payments from the Thalidomide Trust follow a 1968 settlement with Distillers, which distributed the drug in the UK. But sufferers claim it is not enough.

In 2012 Grünenthal chief executive Harald Stock, apologised for the first time for producing the drug and remaining silent about the birth defects. However victim advocates called the apology ‘insulting’ and ‘too little, too late’.

Published: 3 Feb 2015