September 1982 marks the incident that remains an unsolved mystery to this day – the Chicago Tylenol murders. A random act of evil will forever change the way we take medication. We now expect to be able to tell when a product has been tampered with, by having its safety seal broken.
But this improvement in product packaging regulation came at a steep price.
Seven people, including a 12 year old child, died unexpectedly in a series of events that what would later become known as the Chicago Tylenol murders.
The victims
At first it appeared that the victims had absolutely nothing in common: a 12-year-old in Elk Grove Village, a postal worker in Arlington Heights, a new mother of four in Winfield.
But then, just as the family members of postal worker Adam Janus gathered to grieve, 2 more deaths took place in the same house. Stanley Janus, the first victim’s brother, and his wife Theresa both collapsed in a matter of hours.
The plot of thickened as authorities quarantined the house, suspecting an unrelated health issue.
The unsolved mystery of the “Tylenol murders”
A public health nurse, Helen Jensen, is present at the scene of the 3 deaths in a row. She expresses her assumption that there must have been something “wrong” with the recently purchased bottle of Tylenol they discovered on site.
The receipt found for the bottle that had been purchased just that morning determined medical examiner Dr. Edmund Donoghue to pursue her theory.
Donoghue decides to look for the tell-tale signs of cyanide poisoning when examining the bodies.
What he discovers will send the entire nation into a state of panic!
Red skin, signs of erosion within the stomachs of all 3 victims, in an alkaline state.
And most conclusively: the smell of bitter almonds.
Final verdict: cyanide poisoning!
So how did cyanide even cross anyone’s mind?
Dr. Donoghue says that it was just of matter of “luck” that someone with the ability to smell cyanide was present at the scene. This ability is regarded as an inherited genetic trait, manifesting in only half of the population.
The pungent smell of bitter almonds was the missing piece of the puzzle! This detail led the hundreds of investigators looking into these 7 deaths to the final answer: all the victims had taken Tylenol contaminated with cyanide.
Cyanide blocks the body’s ability to use oxygen, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. It’s a poison that’s particularly damaging to the heart and brain.
It works very fast. In solid crystal form, cyanide can be lethal to humans even when ingesting a single gram.
Ultimately, public health nurse, Helen Jensen saved investigators a lot of time. By sniffing a Tylenol bottle, she helped link the 7 mysterious deaths to the random act of drug tampering that would revolutionize safety product packaging regulations.
“Tylenol” federal bill & new safety product packaging regulations
Following the Chicago “Tylenol” murders, the brand behind this very popular over-the-counter drug, Johnson & Johnson not only changed the packaging, but the pills too!
Maybe it doesn’t sound like much now, but at the time it was a crisis management move that created a Domino effect within the industry.
Johnson & Johnson switched from capsules to caplets, while also upgrading their containers, and advertised a triple-sealed Tylenol packaging. It included a box with glued flaps, a plastic ring around the neck and a foil seal; all of which are now industry standards for over-the-counter drugs.
The “Tylenol” murders also led to a change in federal law. The Federal Anti-Tampering Bill took legal effect in 1983. This bill made tampering with medication and other consumer goods a crime. The bill is still commonly known as the “Tylenol bill.”
The FDA followed suit, making it an FDA requirement for drugs to have tamper-proof packaging (blister packs, shrink wrap bottle covers and visible seals).
The FDA’s new over-the-counter packaging requirements also instructed manufacturers to clearly write on the label how a consumer can recognize if a bottle had been tampered with.
The tamper-proof features included breakable seals, blister packs or tape.
Johnson & Johnson’s crisis management becomes standard study-case in business school
The story the public was told by the company, by the police, by the government and by the media followed a single plotline: a madman was responsible for the “Tylenol” murders.
Medical historian Dr. Howard Markel, a University of Michigan professor, calls it a never before seen turnaround; thanks to a top-notch crisis management team and a skillful PR campaign.
The immediate recall, where Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million bottles nationwide, after warning consumers to stop taking the drug, brought the company to the edge of disaster.
By cooperating with investigators and offering a $100,000 incentive for information that might help identify the perpetrator, Johnson and Johnson did some quick damage control with the general public.
J&J also tested 1.5 million Tylenol bottles and found three more unopened bottles laced with cyanide.
Collateral damage
- The copycat murders that followed the mysterious 1982 Tylenol deaths.
– A New York victim of a cyanide laced Tylenol in 1986;
– A woman lacing Excedrin with cyanide, resulting in the death of her husband and a stranger in 1986;
– A Seattle man’s Sudafed cyanide contamination in 1991, having the intention of murdering his wife, but killing two strangers instead.
- People still remember that the September 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders effectively ruined Halloween that year. Parents were scared of the reality that was consumer goods tampering. This making trick-or-treating a risky affair following the panic that set in that year.
