German group to fight thalidomider boycott call

Release Date: 2009-07-06

A German company linked to the manufacturer of thalidomide has vowed to pursue an unusual legal battle to prevent victims of the birth control drug calling for a consumer boycott of its products.

The Dalli Group, based in Stolberg, North-Rhine Westphalia, said it would use every possible legal recourse to prevent a boycott of its perfumes and detergents by “thalidomiders” with birth defects seeking greater compensation.
Its comments came after Andreas Meyer, a severely disabled thalidomider, last Wednesday successfully overturned an interim injunction in Cologne that had been granted to Dalli earlier this year under a rarely tested legal clause.
The company is using an obscure article of German competition law against boycotts that was weakened in the 1930s at the time of action against Jewish businesses and toughened again after the second world war in a way that should avoid any such future discrimination.
Mr Meyer has been involved in intensifying efforts over the past two years to seek greater financial support for thousands of thalidomiders born with physical problems after their mothers took the drug to treat morning sickness during pregnancy from 1957 until it was withdrawn in the early 1960s.
In efforts to raise €5bn ($7bn, £4.2bn) in fresh compensation, Mr Meyer has called for consumers not to buy medicines including painkillers made by Grunenthal, the manufacturer of thalidomide, or the luxury perfumes Tabak and 4711 made by subsidiaries of Dalli Group.
Grunenthal says that it has no direct commercial links with the Dalli Group. However, the companies were all founded and are all controlled through the same network of family shareholders.
Grunenthal originally ended a long-running legal battle with a DM100m settlement to families affected by thalidomide in the early 1970s, topped up by the German state, in exchange for agreement to waive any rights to seek any future additional redress.
But as thousands of thalidomiders are reaching late middle age with severe medical complications, they have increased pressure for extra compensation on top of that achieved by their parents, which in Germany peaks at €1,090 a month.
Facing national and international criticism, Grunenthal recently agreed to add a further €50m to the compensation fund and the German authorities are to broaden access to allow thalidomiders who had not previously registered to receive support in Germany and other countries including Austria, Spain and Italy with still less financial aid.
Annette Fusening, a spokeswoman for Grunenthal, said the company was working actively to help thalidomiders and it had not fought Mr Meyer’s call for a boycott, which had made no difference to its approach.
After resisting demands for fresh compensation for several years, the company recently appointed a new chief executive and has come under pressure after meetings between thalidomiders and Johnson & Johnson, the US pharmaceutical group with which it has a partnership.

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