Sunday, January 17, 2010

Tainted Tylenol...Children's Aspirin...Pain Relievers

This got lost in the Haiti headlines and I just want to make sure everyone's aware and passes it on.

There's been a massive recall of Tylenol products...Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, St. Joseph's Aspirin for Children and Rolaids. Bottom line, if it smells funny, don't take it.

Seventy people got sick and the FDA's traced it back to a chemical that apparently leached into the products from the pallets they sat on.

Johnson and Johnson's getting slammed for not acting fast enough - it took the FDA to force the recall because the company said the number of complaints was "small".

The odor was first reported in 2008...and the FDA wasn't told about it until an entire year later. The FDA is not pleased and its told the company in no uncertain terms. The agency appears to be flexing muscles it hasn't used in a very long time.

An internet search shows that the United Arab Emirates, which got some of the drugs in question (along with the Americas and Fiji), still knew nothing of the recall this weekend.

Amazing that the company was so lax, as it brings back memories of another Tylenol scare - the 1982 cyanide contamination.

No comments: