A new study has found that hormone pregnancy tests had the potential to deform embryos in the womb.

The controversial drug Primodos, used by women in the 1960s and 70s, was removed from the market in 1978 after concerns were raised about the drug.

But new research produced by Dr Neil Vargesson from the Institute of Medical Sciences in Aberdeen University is at odds with a recent Government-commissioned report, published three months ago, which suggested there was not enough scientific evidence to demonstrate a causal association between the drug and malformations.

Dr Vargesson’s study, first seen by Sky News last year in its early stages, was published on Tuesday in The Scientific Reports.

It shows that when the drug is applied to zebra fish embryos they suffer a range of deformities, including shortened tails, spine, fin and eye defects.

Fish are often used to screen drugs as their embryos can replicate the reaction of humans. For example, Thalidomide shortens the fins in fish as it does the limbs in humans.

Dr Vargesson also found the drug caused greater damage the earlier in development the embryo is exposed to it, and that higher doses can be lethal.

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A culture of “avoidance and denial” allowed a breast surgeon to perform botched and unnecessary operations on hundreds of women, a report has found.

An independent inquiry into Ian Paterson’s malpractice has recommended the recall of his 11,000 patients for their treatment to be assessed.

Paterson is serving a 20-year jail term for 17 counts of wounding with intent.

One of Paterson’s colleagues has been referred to police and five more to health watchdogs by the inquiry.

Debbie Douglas, who underwent “needless” surgery while in Paterson’s care, said all of the report’s 15 recommendations must be implemented.

The disgraced breast surgeon worked with cancer patients at NHS and private hospitals in the West Midlands over 14 years.

‘The man is an absolute monster’

His unregulated “cleavage-sparing” mastectomies, in which breast tissue was left behind, meant the disease returned in many of his patients.

Others had surgery they did not need – some even finding out years later they did not have cancer.

Patients were let down by the healthcare system “at every level” said the inquiry chair, retired Bishop of Norwich the Rt Revd Graham James, who identified “multiple individual and organisational failures”.

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More than 200 patients have been recalled amid concerns a consultant surgeon has been carrying out unnecessary operations at a private hospital in the West Midlands.

Spire Healthcare has confirmed that 217 patients who were treated by consultant orthopaedic surgeon Habib Rahman at the Spire Parkway hospital in Solihull have been contacted and offered a consultation to review their care.

The Spire Parkway was one of the hospitals where disgraced breast surgeon Ian Paterson worked. He was jailed for 20 years in 2017 for wounding patients after carrying out unnecessary operations. It is thought more than 900 patients could have been affected.

Mr Rahman is currently being investigated by the General Medical Council. At present he must be supervised and he can only work at University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.

The Trust told Sky News that Mr Rahman was working with “restrictions” and that none of his NHS patients had been recalled. He is working at Heartlands Hospital and Solihull Hospital.

The investigation into him came to light after a 52-year-old patient from Solihull, who does not want to be named, received a letter last month inviting her to a meeting at the hospital.

She underwent two shoulder manipulation procedures under general anaesthetic in 2017 after suffering from pain in her shoulder and developing carpal tunnel syndrome. Neither of the operations was successful.

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