One Bolton mother is celebrating after finally receiving justice for her parents and thousands of others who were given an unregulated drug which caused devastation to people's lives.

Adele Stretch, 54, who lives in Bolton has been campaigning with Marie Lyon, chair of the Association of Children Damaged by Hormone Pregnancy Tests, and her local MP, Yasmin Qureshi, for the last 12 years to receive recognition that children and parents suffered significant harm from a drug called Primodos.

Adele has deformities on her hands and feet after her mother was given Primodos, a pregnancy test, by a doctor early on in her pregnancy.

Primodos has also been known to cause miscarriages, heart defects and spinal problems in children, with over 1 million women predicted to have taken it before it was taken off the market in 1978.

Adele was born with this, which have gradually got worse with age, with her parents raising her thinking it was their fault.

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However after over 40 years of campaigning an independent review, led by Baroness Cumberlege, declared on Wednesday that children and parents suffered "avoidable harm" from a failure to regulate the dangerous drug ­— prompting a full apology from the Health Secretary, Matt Hancock.

Adele said: "It's just fantastic that we have finally received some recognition."

However she is upset that her parents will never know about this as they passed away some years ago.

She said: "What upsets me most is that mum and dad have died not knowing this was the reason I was born like this.

"Mum and dad were so loving but have gone without knowing it wasn't their fault.

"It would have been my dads 82nd birthday the day the report was out so I hope they're celebrating with me."

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Adele only found out about the drug scandal by chance after seeing a report about its effects on Grenada News.

"I saw them talking on the TV about the drug and its effects, which were similar to what I have.

"Then I remembered my mum telling me when I first got pregnant that she was given a drug as a pregnancy test ­— it all clicked.

"There are some very dark days where people give me looks and even my son was bullied but I've been so lucky compared to some others who were affected."

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Adele then got in touch with Marie, who has been campaigning for justice for over 40 years, after her daughter Sarah, 49, was born with a shortened arm after she was given the drug.

She said: "I'm elated. I'm kind of in shock."

Marie went around the world in search of evidence to prove the drugs effects, which was vindicated in this report, with more and more people constantly coming forward saying they were affected by the drug.

"This was a culmination of sheer hard work for years," she said.

"There's still a lot of work to do to get justice for these women and children."

Yasmin Qureshi, MP for Bolton South East, has been campaigning for over eight years as chair of a parliamentary group researching Hormone Pregnancy Tests also hailed the good news.

She said: "Today I am thinking about the thousands of mothers who were wrongly prescribed a drug that changed their lives and left their children with profound disabilities. Their continued suffering shows that this is not a historical issue but an ongoing tragedy.

"Nothing can fully compensate those women and their children for lifetimes of suffering, but this report contains detailed recommendations on how to improve the lives of those affected by Primodos.

"More than that, it offers a roadmap for how they can finally achieve the justice they have been denied for over 50 years."

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