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SV PAN TO Thalidomide children seated at ceremony
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GV Ceremony in progress
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SV and CU Parents' representative speaking
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GV Ministers seated
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CU Welfare Minister and parents signing agreement (5 shots)
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SV Parents look on
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CU Welfare Minister addresses meeting (2 shots)
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SV Parents in tears
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SV Welfare Minister talks to Thalidomide children
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Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: In Japan, 63 families with Thalidomide children received GBP 3,400,000 sterling (about $8,500,000 U.S.) from a pharmaceutical firm in an out-of-court settlement on Sunday (13 October).

The compensation came 11 years after the first suits were filed against the Dainippon Pharmaceutical Company.

The documents confirming the settlement were signed by the parents, the President of Dainippon, Mr. Tokujiro Miyatake and Japan's Health and Welfare Minister, Mr. Kunikichi Saito.

The ceremony was attended by 56 of the 63 families including 29 children deformed by the drug. Each child received from GBP 40,000 to GBP 60,000 sterling, depending on the extent of deformity.

The first Thalidomide babies were born 15 years ago in Japan. Their mothers had taken Thalidomide in sleeping and anti-stomach ache drugs sold by Dainippon.

SYNOPSIS: Sixty-three children suffering from deformities caused by the drug - Thalidomide - received compensation from the drug's distributor on Sunday. An out-of-court settlement of about three and a half million pounds was signed at a special ceremony, attended by the parents of fifty six of the children. Japan's Health and Welfare Minister Mr. Saito and the President of Dainippon Pharmaceutical Company, Mr. Miyatake, also attended.

The parents filed the first suits against the company eleven years ago. Many legal complications followed before the settlement was reached. Both Mr. Saito and Mr. Miyatake, apologised for the delay in compensation.

It is believed there are more than two hundred other Thalidomide children in Japan. Following Sunday's break-through, it is expected that their parents will start puhsing their claims for compensation. The final total will probably be about ten and a half million pounds.