In 1982, as a naïve freshman, I moved into my first college dormitory. The floor I lived on was mostly populated with a collection ne’er do ne'er-do-wells, rabble-rousers, and class clowns. Affectionally known as “The Pit” across campus, I seemed to fit right in.
It was around this time that the Chicago Tylenol murders were the big story. In case you don’t know or need a bit of a refresher, the Chicago Tylenol murders were a landmark crisis in consumer safety resulting from drug tampering. Seven people in the Chicago area died after ingesting Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules that had been laced with lethal doses of potassium cyanide, a toxic chemical that interferes with cellular respiration and can cause death within minutes.
The cause was determined to be deliberate tampering that occurred after Tylenol bottles had reached store shelves, rather than during manufacturing. This led to a nationwide panic and mass recalls, with Johnson & Johnson removing over 31 million bottles of Tylenol from stores.
In response, critical safety practices were implemented. The tragedy prompted the development and widespread adoption of tamper-evident packaging across the pharmaceutical and food industries, as well as the enactment of the Federal Anti-Tampering Act, making product tampering a federal crime. These changes greatly improved consumer protection, restoring trust in over-the-counter pharmaceuticals and setting new industry standards for packaging security.
On my dorm room floor, the guy who thought he was the funniest and was also the floor bully, scattered a bunch of Tylenol capsules in the hallway and lay down in the middle of the mess, feigning death. Macabre humor then – and probably unacceptable today. But, being that he was annoying and had finally shut up for a while, we left him there.
The Tylenol “scare” of 1982 was real.
Today, we have another Tylenol scare – and this one is not real.
The statement from our government’s health leaders that Tylenol causes autism is not backed by science.
In fact, every major medical organization has stated that acetaminophen remains the safest pain and fever option in pregnancy when used as directed.
This latest scare is neither real nor funny.
But bullies will be bullies. Best to let them lie there and ignore them.
Mike Auerbach
Pharma Group Editor-in-Chief
mauerbach@comparenetworks.com
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