digrazia@nacho.DEC (02/25/86)
A while back, some news medium reported that investigators had found poisoned Tylenol capsules by noticing that the print on the capsules did not line up between the capsules' two halves, suggesting that the capsules had been manually opened and reassembled. So when I noticed one out of twenty of my Keflex capsules with misaligned print, I decided it was suspect. No doubt International Terrorists have struck the pharmaceutical distribution channels in New Hampshire. After all, the two halves of the little gelatin capsule can't turn themselves a quarter-turn, can they? I phoned Eli Lilly in Indianapolis and had a pleasant conversation with the expected polite expert, who assured me that there was very little likelihood of trouble, notwithstanding that he didn't understand my question. It's not clear to me just how much explaining is necessary to convey an understanding that the print on a drug capsule is not aligned between the capsule's two halves. Would a photograph or a video tape help? I figured the capsule was adulteratied with hideous toxins, so I decided to have the capsule's contents assayed. I phoned a local chemical lab (listed in the Yellow Pages). They were less than interested. The voice on the other end of the phone said they needed to know what they were looking for. The only course I can think of is to send half of the capsule's contents to Eli Lilly, and ask them whether it's different from what it ought to be. While awaiting their report, I can continue looking for an independent lab. Does anyone know where I can find a lab capable of comparing two samples of a common antibiotic? Bob D Usenet address: ...decvax!decwrl!dec-rhea!dec-nacho!digrazia
bzs@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein) (02/27/86)
Ok, I've been thinking about all this tylenol stuff and I believe the following for absolutely no factual reason: I predict it will be discovered that something in tylenol's manufacturing process added the cyanide, or somehow caused it to be generated while in capsule. That is, it was not put there by a person with malicious intent. My only reasoning is that their proof that things were tampered with seems pretty thin. Also, I presume manufacturing techniques from company to company are fairly different (perhaps even protected), so there is no need to explain why other acetominophen manufacturers have not had the same problem. Obviously this is not original, I am just saying it seems to not be what people are looking into and still appears to be the most plausible explanation. Anyone know anything concrete? Is it just that the interested parties are more comfortable with the lone terrorist theory than shaking our faith in the system? -Barry Shein, Boston University
cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer) (03/03/86)
> > Ok, I've been thinking about all this tylenol stuff and I believe the > following for absolutely no factual reason: > > I predict it will be discovered that something in > tylenol's manufacturing process added the cyanide, > or somehow caused it to be generated while in capsule. > That is, it was not put there by a person with malicious > intent. > > My only reasoning is that their proof that things were tampered with > seems pretty thin. Also, I presume manufacturing techniques from > company to company are fairly different (perhaps even protected), so > there is no need to explain why other acetominophen manufacturers have > not had the same problem. Obviously this is not original, I am just > saying it seems to not be what people are looking into and still > appears to be the most plausible explanation. Anyone know anything > concrete? Is it just that the interested parties are more comfortable > with the lone terrorist theory than shaking our faith in the system? > > -Barry Shein, Boston University If the problem is a manufacturing fault, why so few fatalities? A whole batch should be contaminated -- they don't make Tylenol one bottle at a time. Instead of a couple fatalities in one geographic area, there should be dozens. Based on your postings in net.politics, I think you would rather make a poorly reasoned statement like the one above, so you can blame big bad capitalism, rather than accept the fact that there are evil people out there who like to kill.
avinash@ubvax.UUCP (Avinash Marathe) (03/03/86)
In article <217@bu-cs.UUCP> bzs@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein) writes: > >Ok, I've been thinking about all this tylenol stuff and I believe the >following for absolutely no factual reason: > > I predict it will be discovered that something in > tylenol's manufacturing process added the cyanide, > or somehow caused it to be generated while in capsule. > That is, it was not put there by a person with malicious > intent. > >My only reasoning is that their proof that things were tampered with >seems pretty thin. ........................... Anyone know anything >concrete? Is it just that the interested parties are more comfortable >with the lone terrorist theory than shaking our faith in the system? > > -Barry Shein, Boston University I watched the CEO of Johnson & Johnson being interviewed on Donahue and the explanation he gave was as follows. The two bottles of tylenol belonged to two different batches and were found a mile apart in two different stores (Woolworth and A&P). Now J&J shipped these two different batches from two different locations to the main distribution centers of Woolworth and A&P. These distribution centers in turn shipped batches to each of their stores. In this scenario the probability of these two bottles landing up a mile apart from each other is very very small (1 in a billion or trillion, I don't remember). Another interesting detail that he mentioned was that both bottles may have had exactly five contaminated capsules. The unused portion of the bottle found in the victim's apartment had 3 contaminated capsules. So if she ingested 2 capsules, that's a total of five. The other bottle found on the store's shelf had exactly five contaminated capsules. It seems pretty unlikely that exactly five capsules in each bottle could be contaminated due to an error in the manufacturing process. The CEO did acknowledge that none of this proves anything. Disclaimer: I am in no way affiliated with J&J. Avinash Marathe {ihnp4,allegra,decwrl}!amd!ubvax!avinash