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The man on the bus was staring at her. Carolyn Farmer, 17, noticed him as she closed the Leon Uris novel “Exodus” and gathered her things. It was 1979, and she knew what it was like to have strangers gawk at her: She had been born with shortened arms and fingers missing on each hand. “Are you a thalidomide baby?” he asked as she waited to get off. (Thomas, 3/23)

Even though thalidomide did not reach American pharmacy shelves, the drug was distributed to as many as 20,000 patients through two clinical trials run by American companies that were testing it for use in the United States. Now, a group of Americans who say they were affected by the drug are demanding justice and recognition. Here are some of their stories. (Thomas, 3/23)

In July 1962, the Food and Drug Administration sent an urgent message to its field offices with an assignment it said was “one of the most important we have had in a long time.” Overseas, thousands of babies in Germany, England and other countries were being born with severe defects tied to their mothers’ use of thalidomide, a drug widely taken for insomnia, morning sickness and other ailments. Meanwhile, the federal government sought to figure out what had happened in the United States, and how many babies had been affected. (Thomas, 3/23)