In 1960, Frances Oldham Kelsey was one of the newest recruits of the Food and Drug Administration. During her first month as a reviewer at the FDA, Kelsey refused marketing authorization for a drug called thalidomide in the United States. The drug had been used to treat insomnia and workplace stress, but was later proven to have caused nerve damage, and severe birth defects. This TED-Ed video based on a lesson by Andrea Tone explains how Kelsey prevented a massive national public health crisis.
THIS IS COOL. I WANT TO LEARN SOMETHING ELSE, TOO!
Video via – TED-Ed
Further Readings And References @ Frances Oldham Kelsey’s Biography, The New York Times, and Smithsonian
ScienceSwitch 
Definitely interesting!
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according to my birth mother – thalidomide was being used in the late 1940s in Germany. she was given the opportunity to use it when she was pregnant with me. she refused. the doctors insisted. she refused again. years later when the facts about what it did to all the children in Europe came out, she was very glad that she had not let the doctors browbeat her into taking it.
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