9 million bottles of Tylenol recalled by Johnson & Johnson

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: MSNBC

NEW YORK — Johnson & Johnson said on Wednesday that it was recalling 9 million more bottles of its Tylenol painkiller because they did not adequately warn customers about the presence of trace amounts of alcohol used in the product flavorings.

The latest in a seemingly incessant string of J&J recalls involves three Tylenol Cold Multi-Symptom liquid products. More than 200 million packages of Tylenol and other consumer brands have been recalled over the past year due to quality control problems.

"There is less than 1 percent alcohol in the flavoring, and this information is on the back of the bottles," company spokeswoman Bonnie Jacobs said.

"But the information does not appear on the front of the bottles," she added, an omission that sparked the recall of the affected lots from wholesalers and retail outlets.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40357881/ns/health-health_care/

[LiberalEsto]

1. Here we go again

I posted about J&J on another thread recently.

Do any of you recall the first Tylenol scare?

It happened in 1982. Several people died of cyanide poisoning after taking Tylenol, and there was a huge scare about some random poisoner being at work. Nobody was ever caught and prosecuted, but the Tylenol deaths ultimately led to all the heavy-duty safety packaging we see today on so many products. There was a deluge of commercials telling us all to "trust Tylenol". For more background, check this link:

Link: http://www.snopes.com/horrors/poison/tylenol.asp


However, what the public never learned fully was that cyanide was stored at manufacturing plants that made Tylenol, and used to test the quality of a chemical used in Tylenol manufacture. After the Tylenol deaths, AP found out about it and other media also tried to report it. J&J forced them to kill the story, but it was mentioned in one article in the NY Times.

I was a newspaper reporter at the time, and I covered some local stuff about J&J, although I had nothing to do with reporting on the Tylenol poisonings. To this day, I wonder if there really ever was a "random poisoner" tampering with Tylenol in 1982, or if the deaths were the result of a manufacturing error, sabotage, or something else going on in the manufacturing plant. My personal experiences with J&J convinced me that they were a ruthless corporation that didn't care who it stepped on to attain its goals.

Check out this link: http://americanfraud.blogspot.com/2010/05/johnson-johnson-3-decades-of-tylenol.html

The material on this website about J&J and its corporate behavior over 32 years is absolutely astonishing.

American Fraud & the Tylenol Murders

Excerpt:

"Larry Foster (head of J&J PR)(my quotes) and others who worked for Foster claimed on Thursday, September 30, 1982 that no cyanide was stored on the premises at McNeil and that no cyanide was used in the manufacturing process. It didn’t take long for reporters to figure out that this was not the case. The Associated Press learned on Thursday afternoon that cyanide was stored at the McNeil plant. (my boldface)

An AP reporter called Foster for confirmation. After checking again, Foster learned that cyanide was used at the manufacturing plants to test the quality of a chemical used to make Tylenol. He called the reporter back and asked him to kill the story.


According to case studies about the Tylenol crisis, Foster had a reputation of being honest, fair and ethical. He could not afford a cover up, say the public relations experts. The inference being that Foster didn't attempt to cover up either the storage of cyanide at J&J's manufacturing plants, or the use of cyanide during the Tylenol manufacturing process.

In fact, that’s exactly what Foster did attempt to do."

[arikara]

2. K&R

for this post too. Thanks for the info.

[lbrtbell]

8. Thank you for that very informative post - n/t

[davsand]

9. I thought they caught the guy that was tampering with the Tylenol bottles.

I am almost certain I remember that they caught somebody for that. I even checked with Kevsand and he thought so too...


:shrug:



Laura

[laundry_queen]

12. I am pretty sure I saw a program awhile ago

That showed that the person who was caught was trying to poison their spouse and make it look like a tampering accident. Was it that particular cyanide tampering or were there others?

[davsand]

13. There was more than one death, I thought...

This is awful to admit to, but the only reason I remember much about it was because that year I went out for Halloween dressed as a bottle of Tylenol, and one of my friends put a sign on my back that said, "Warning, this container has been tampered with--MORE THAN ONCE!!!"


:blush:


Laura

[kirby]

3. Is this supposed to be a big deal?

Sounds like a minor labelling issue. Big whoop.

[TrogL]

4. It is if you can't consume alcohol

[old mark]

5. Tylenol is a very dangerous drug, regulated tightly in many parts of the world -

It severely damages the liver, especially if used over long periods of time or in large amounts. It is widely used as a suicide drug in Europe. It is pushed by the medical establishment here because of the higher profit in its sales than simple aspirin. Although they will tell you that aspirin may damage your stomach linings, you will hardly ever hear a word spoken against Tylenol in the US when it is by far the more dangerous drug.

mark

[bemildred]

6. Tylenol May Cause Serious Liver Damage

If you take Tylenol for four days as directed you may be at risk of liver damage, says a new study. Tylenol has been on the market for decades. Previous studies had shown that Tylenol in combination with hydrocodone caused liver damage - experts had thought the liver toxicity was associated with hydrocodone. This new study clearly shows that the Tylenol poses the risk, rather than the hydrocodone.

Researchers from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA, were surprised when they found out that the liver damage had nothing to do with the opiate (hydrocodone). They found a previously unrecognized but pretty remarkable effect of acetaminophen (Tylenol) alone when taken as directed for four days.

The scientists said that patients who really need Tylenol should not stop taking it. If they are concerned they should discuss their medication with their doctor before considering switching.

Tylenol is a popular painkiller taken by millions of people all over the world. It is an alternative to aspirin for people who are concerned about its gastrointestinal side-effects.

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/46607.php

[truthisfreedom]

7. Unpasteurized juices (apple and orange for example) will develop alcohol over time, probably much

more than the tiny fraction of alcohol in this product. The flavoring has less than 1% alcohol, and presumably the flavoring is only a percentage of the total volume of the product.

[Thor_MN]

10. The ibprofen section at my local store is wiped out

I wonder if it's due to this or related to other drug shortages that have been in the news recently?

[ncrainbowgrrl]

11. AGAIN?

:banghead:

this is seriously pathetic.

[lunasun]

14. This is a nasty big pharma with a lot of problems LONG history of not caring