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Poison Pill: Is the killer behind 1982 Tylenol poisonings still on the loose?

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Re: Poison Pill: Is the killer behind 1982 Tylenol poisonings still on the loose?

#51

Post by nobodyandproud »

Corey_ wrote: post #15
RedCardRef wrote: post #2

Recently watched the Netflix docu series on this, J&J claimed that cyanide was not present in the factory, so there is no way the pills could have been contaminated at the factory. Then later on one of the doctors asked J&J if a test for cyanide is done for each batch in QA at the factory. J&J said yes, each batch was tested for the presence of cyanide. The doctor then asked, "Why were they testing for it(cyanide)?",…

What’s more worrying isn’t that they tested—it’s that the existence of the test feels like a smoking gun. That says more about our broken trust in institutions than anything else.

Which is more a showcase of our manufacturing ignorance than it is a smoking gun.

Re: Poison Pill: Is the killer behind 1982 Tylenol poisonings still on the loose?

#53

Post by TonyTrapp »

xxxthrowaway wrote: post #44

I can no longer find the source but someone could with enough research. A person on Reddit knew that their uncle committed and confessed to these crimes. They have since died, if I recall correctly. Like decades ago.

Happens all the time on Reddit. I wouldn't believe a single word without credible sources.

Re: Poison Pill: Is the killer behind 1982 Tylenol poisonings still on the loose?

#54

Post by account42 »

chris-orgmenta wrote: post #17

> While in custody, she took a lie detector test, which revealed deception in two key responses[...] It did not. It revealed that the police failed to trick a confession out of her using pseudo-science. > James Lewis refused a polygraph. Sensible move - Especially when journalists interpret LDTs as per above. > They tried enlarging the pharmacy surveillance photo, but the bigger it got, the grainier it got. What did…

Tamper-resistent packaging was implemented as a result of this case. Also, this has nothing to do with the global supply chain not matter how good of a buzzword that is.

Re: Poison Pill: Is the killer behind 1982 Tylenol poisonings still on the loose?

#55

Post by account42 »

john-h-k wrote: post #26
andrewinardeer wrote: post #16

A colleague has no evidence but vibe feels it was Ted Kaczynski.

I used a similar defence when someone mysteriously broke a school computer years back

Don't be so dismissive, the FBI has also considered this possibility - from the Wikipedia article [0]:

> On May 19, 2011, the FBI requested DNA samples from "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski in connection to the Tylenol murders. Kaczynski denied having ever possessed potassium cyanide. The first four Unabomber crimes happened in Chicago and its suburbs from 1978 to 1980, and Kaczynski's parents had a suburban Chicago home in Lombard, Illinois, in 1982, where he stayed occasionally.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago_Tylenol_murders

Re: Poison Pill: Is the killer behind 1982 Tylenol poisonings still on the loose?

#58

Post by joshstrange »

metalman wrote: post #45

I looked, but could find no link to a much greater death toll involving vitamins made from a poisionous pre cursor, 90's?, factory that made the vitamins was in Austrailia, but by the time investigators moved in it has been striped and the paper work was faked, no "leads", deaths in the US....made the news, but totaly swept under the rug

Maybe you are thinking of the contaminated L-tryptophan which happened in 1989. But that was a Japan-based lab.

From the FDA [0]:

> FDA issues a nationwide recall of all over-the-counter dietary supplements containing 100 milligrams or more of L-Tryptophan, due to a clear link between the consumption of L-tryptophan tablets and its association with a U.S. outbreak of Eosinophilia Myalgia Syndrome (EMS), characterized by fatigue, shortness of breath, and other symptoms. By 1990 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirm over 1,500 cases of EMS, including 38 deaths, and FDA prohibits the importation of l-tryptophan.

I’m having a hard time finding a good article/document to link to but apparently the lab (Showa Denko) destroyed production report and reconfigured the production line to hide what happened. They were apparently using a new method to create L-Tryptophan and it had a flaw.

This seems to fit your comment except for the Australia part. I can find other articles about a large Australian vitamin recall, but it’s not related. [1]

[0] https://www.fda.gov/about-fda/fda-history/milestones-us-food...

[1] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC1125922/

Re: Poison Pill: Is the killer behind 1982 Tylenol poisonings still on the loose?

#59

Post by john-h-k »

account42 wrote: post #55
john-h-k wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used a similar defence when someone mysteriously broke a school computer years back

Don't be so dismissive, the FBI has also considered this possibility - from the Wikipedia article [0]: > On May 19, 2011, the FBI requested DNA samples from "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski in connection to the Tylenol murders. Kaczynski denied having ever possessed potassium cyanide. The first four Unabomber crimes happened in Chicago and its suburbs from 1978 to 1980, and Kaczynski's parents had a suburban Chicago home in…

It was mean to be a lighthearted joke more than dismissive, apologies. Very interesting though

Re: Poison Pill: Is the killer behind 1982 Tylenol poisonings still on the loose?

#60

Post by Xss3 »

laser_eagle wrote: post #42
Corey_ wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s more worrying isn’t that they tested—it’s that the existence of the test feels like a smoking gun. That says more about our broken trust in institutions than anything else.

It says more about the nature of pharmaceutical manufacturing than anything. We often need to screen for impurities, and cyanide is a pretty common one.

I know some companies use spectroscopy (often raman) to scan select pills/capsules/vials to ensure there aren't any contaminants and to ensure the content is uniform throughout the pill rather than concentrated in one part.
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