The Chicago Tylenol Poisonings of 1982: A Historical Tragedy and Triumph, Study notes of Medicine

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The Chicago Tylenol Tamperings of 1982 Andrew Weinstock National History Day Research Paper 1559 Words

Many people today are unaware of the Tylenol Tamperings of 1982 which took place almost four decades ago. Some people might not even categorize this as a historical event. However, if anyone has done any research on the topic, they will quickly learn it is not only a historical event, but one that very much could resurface today when considering topics such as homeland security, Federal Drug Association regulations, and acts of terror. The Tylenol Tamperings of 1982 as it will be explained throughout this paper, was a time when unexplained deaths were occurring in the same vicinity in the Midwest and researchers and detectives were at a loss to why this was happening. As correlations were being made and autopsies were being formed, the people leading the investigation began to figure out pretty confidently what the culprit was but never did find out who committed these crimes. Although there are many unanswered questions regarding this topic, the Tylenol Tamperings of 1982 contained both triumph and tragedy. The Tylenol scare caused seven deaths, so it is apparent how tragedy fits into this topic, but with an unsolved case and seven deaths, one might question, “How does triumph fit in?”. Triumph fits into this equation by understanding how easy it was in the first place for some person to commit this terrible act. By understanding this, it prompted agencies like Johnson and Johnson to create stricter packaging regulations. This in turn, inspired other food and drug agencies to do the same in hopes of preventing tragedies like the one that occurred with these seven Midwesterners to happen again. Nowadays we have safety seals on our products and the protective packaging. But imagine what it was like before we had safety seals on our medical products, how unsafe and hazardous medicine products could have been. No one had to worry about people messing with their products being messed/ tampered with because that was just unheard of at the time. In late

Theresa developed a headache. They both unknowingly had taken the poisoned capsules from Adam’s bottle. By this point, authorities knew something was up because three family members all died within hours of each other. Later that same day, a new mother, Mary Reiner, took Extra Strength Tylenol and collapsed. She was found when her husband, Ed Reiner, came home. At 6:30 p.m. Mary McFarland was at work when she told her coworkers that she had a nasty headache. According to her brother, she took at least two Extra Strength Tylenol pills and within minutes she was on the floor. Lastly, at 5:00 p.m. the next day, Paula Prince’s body was found in her apartment after she did not answer her phone, nor showed up to dinner the night before. The most promising lead in this case at the time was the fact that the earlier victims that were mentioned, Adam, Stanley, and Theresa Janus were all related to each other. The investigators could now finally start to find a link between all of these deaths. started to sort out information, examine the bodies, and search the place of residencies, the one thing that all three deaths from The Janus family had in common was that, prior to their death, they had consumed Tylenol for their independent aches and pains. Something that these all had in common is that they all came from the lot MC2880. Police had came to the conclusion that someone/ or a group of people had bought the Tylenol laced it with the potassium cyanide and snuck it back onto shelves. Suspects The police were at loss as to who was behind the tampering until a man named James Lewis came forward and claimed to of committed the crime. In 1983 he had written a letter to Johnson & Johnson demanding that if Johnson & Johnson gave him one million dollars he would stop the tamperings. This caused an investigation by Johnson & Johnson and the FBI. Later that

month, Lewis was caught by authorities and went to jail for extortion, but not for the actual tampering. (Extortion, according to Merriam Webster is the act or practice of extorting especially money or other property.) The second main suspect was a man named Roger Arnold. In 1984, Arnold went into a bar and fatally shot a man named John Stanisha. Before his death, Stanisha had reportedly told authorities that Arnold had cyanide in his home. Police investigated Arnold's home and did not find anything except for chemistry kits in his home. To this day no one has come forward, nor has anyone been caught for the Tylenol murders. When considering a tragedy, the fact that a guilty person has gone free all these years for the killing of seven random people is definitely a tragedy. It is a tragedy to the victims, the victim families, the law enforcement agencies who have worked so tirelessly on their case, and society as well. via, Dailymail.co.uk The Response As I stated previously, Johnson & Johnson heard about the connection between the Tylenol and the deaths and took immediate action. Johnson & Johnson promptly recalled all

via, PBS.com Conclusion This was one of the worst and most mysterious cases in United States history. There is no clear evidence for why the tamperings happened and who had caused them. But with tragedy, there's always triumph. This tragedy changed how we package and take care of products today. When Johnson & Johnson added the triple protection with the tamper-proof seal they had the consumer in mind first. Just one year later Tylenol sales had gone up to what they were before the tamperings, and sales were even better than before. During the time of crisis, it isn't your mistakes or mishaps that define you, but it is how you respond to them that defines you. Johnson & Johnson responded to the events appropriately, maturely and were able to change the future of over-the-counter medications by how they were packaged, sold, and purchased.

Annotated Bibliography Primary Sources: Archive, AP. “Jack Eliason's Sister Died in 1982 after Taking Cyanide-Laced Tylenol. He Says the FBI's Decision t.” YouTube , YouTube, 24 July 2015. Central, Public Apology. “James Burke Reflects on the 1982 Tylenol Cyanide Poisoning Crisis.” YouTube , YouTube, 17 Aug. 2017. Cohen, Emily. “Tylenol Murder Suspect James Lewis, Eyed Since the 1982 Killings, Says He's Innocent in New Interview.” ABC News , ABC News Network, 11 Jan. 2010. Moran, Tim. “'When We Lost Our Innocence': Nurse Who First Saw Tylenol Connection Remembers Murders 35 Years Later.” Stone Mountain-Lithonia, GA Patch , Patch, 29 Sept. 2017. Secondary Sources: Bartz, Scott. TYMURS: the 1982 Tylenol Murders. New Light Publishing, 2012. “Chicago Tylenol Murders.” Crime Museum. “Chicago Tylenol Murders: The First Domestic Terror Incident.” Chicago Magazine. CNN. “1982: Poisoned Tylenol Fears in Chicago.” YouTube , YouTube, 19 May 2011. “Crisis Communications Strategies .” OU Facts. Eddy, Cheryl, and Cheryl Eddy. “The Horrifying True Story of the 1982 Chicago Tylenol Murders.” io9 , io9.Gizmodo.com, 16 Dec. 2015. Fletcher, Dan. “A Brief History of the Tylenol Poisonings.” Time , Time Inc., 9 Feb. 2009, Moran, Tim. “The Tylenol Murders: Still Unsolved After 34 Years.” Stone Mountain-Lithonia, GA Patch , Patch, 2 Oct. 2016. Patel, Dr. Alok, and Michael Nedelman. “How Unsolved Murders Changed Our Pill Bottles.” CNN , Cable News Network, 24 Aug. 2018. “10 Notable Copycat Killers.” HowStuffWorks , HowStuffWorks, 10 Nov. 2009, Serial Killers - Jaci Charney-Perez.