Tylenol Scare 25 Years Ago Changed Product Packaging|ABC 13

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Tylenol Scare 25 Years Ago Changed Product Packaging

posted 7:42 am Wed September 26, 2007 - Lynchburg, VA

With all of the recalls this year, many consumers are double-checking products they buy and that also goes for medication. There have been a lot of changes in packaging ever since the big Tylenol scare, which started 25 years ago this Saturday.

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A lot of folks still remember this scare. It was a time when many felt it was safe to buy just about anything. That scare took buying medicine to a different level.

Tina Vadnal, Remembers Scare - "I think that was the first big scare."

Charlene Lewis, Remembers Scare - "I was pretty concerned because I was taking Tylenol because I had a back problem."

The problem, some Tylenol had been contaminated. On September 29, 1982, seven people died in the Chicago area after taking Extra Strength Tylenol which had been contaminated with cyanide.

Michael Robertson, Robertson Drug Store - "They removed all of the Tylenol all the shelf. So, the Tylenol product disappeared from the shelf all over."

Tylenol sales dropped and consumers emptied their medicine cabinets.

Vadnal - "First off, we quit using it. And of course everyone went to see if they had Tylenol. We actually did have Tylenol and we threw it all out."

Tylenol did bounce back. They created the first tamper-proof packaging, which can be found on just about every kind of medicine now.

Robertson - "It changed the way everything was packaged over the counter and prescription."

It also changed laws. Before the scare, consumers were allowed to bring medicine back to pharmacies.

Robertson - "The trust was there and you knew the folks that come in the store. And it removed that because you could not know any longer who might do something like that."

Still today, trust doesn't come easy.

Lewis - "I don't even take Tylenol now."

Folks we spoke with say this 25th anniversary serves as an unfortunate reminder.

Vadnal - "It's unfortunate that we live in a society where people would want to try to do things to hurt people like that."

The crime in '82 was never solved. Tylenol remains a top seller today, controlling about 35 percent of the pain killer market in North America.

Click here if you'd like to learn more about medicine packaging.

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