On Oct. 5, 1982, Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of McNeil, issued a nationwide recall of Tylenol products. More than 30 million bottles were in circulation with a retail value of over $100 million. The Chicago Tylenol murders resulted in seven deaths from poisoned Extra-Strength Tylenol pain-relief capsules that had been laced with potassium cyanide.

McNeil Consumer Products, a subsidiary of the health care giant, Johnson & Johnson, manufactured Tylenol. To its credit, the company took an active role with the media in issuing mass warning communications and immediately called for a massive recall of the more than 31 million bottles of Tylenol in circulation. Tainted capsules were discovered in early October in a few other grocery stores and drug stores in the Chicago area, but, fortunately, they had not yet been sold or consumed. McNeill and Johnson & Johnson offered replacement capsules to those who turned in pills already purchased and a reward for anyone with information leading to the apprehension of the individual or people involved in these random murders.

The case continued to be confusing to the police, the drug maker and the public at large. For example, Johnson & Johnson quickly established that the cyanide lacing occurred after cases of Tylenol left the factory. Someone, police hypothesized, must have taken bottles off the shelves of local grocers and drug stores in the Chicago area, laced the capsules with poison, and then returned the restored packages to the shelves to be purchased by the unknowing victims.

The incident led to reforms in the packaging of over-the-counter substances and to federal anti-tampering laws. The case remains unsolved and no suspects have been charged. A $100,000 reward has been offered by Johnson & Johnson for the capture and conviction of the “Tylenol Killer.” To this day, however, the perpetrators of these murders have never been found.

n 1983, the U.S. Congress passed what was called “the Tylenol bill,” making it a federal offense to tamper with consumer products. In 1989, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration established federal guidelines for manufacturers to make all such products tamper-proof.