In the 1960s, women who took thalidomide during the fifth to eighth week of pregnancy often gave birth to children with malformed or absent limbs. This can be explained by the concept of

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The critical period refers to a time during fetal development when exposure to certain environmental factors can cause significant and irreversible damage to the developing embryo or fetus. In the case of thalidomide, the critical period for limb development is between the fifth and eighth week of pregnancy, which is when the drug was commonly prescribed to pregnant women. As a result, many infants were born with malformed or absent limbs.

In the 1960s, Women Who Took Thalidomide During the Fifth