ABSTRACT
In early October 1982, seven Chicago-area residents died from taking capsules of Extra-Strength Tylenol laced with cyanide, a poison capable of killing within minutes of ingestion. Initially, the deaths appeared unrelated. Consultation with the Rocky Mountain Poison Center led to the determination that cyanide had precipitated the death. The US Food and Drug Administration warned Americans not to take any Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules until the mystery was solved. With the threat seemingly centered in Chicago, the health and law-enforcement officials there took extraordinary steps to spread the warning. Newsweek noted that at Georgia's Regional Poison Control Center in Atlanta, Fred Graves became so weary of dispelling fears about minor physical complaints that he began asking callers why they had taken Extra-Strength Tylenol in the first place. In short order, protective packaging became the standard within the pharmaceutical industry and has remained so up to the present day.
