Here’s this week ending song: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/oZ53gM9nxrenXZs.html Have anymore suggestions for videos let me know below👇

On a related note, people who crack open packages so they can look at what’s inside and then stick them back on the shelf drive me nuts. At my job we end up throwing out so much stuff because people can’t keep their grubby fingers to themselves. It actually bugs me more than when someone outright steals something because at least then maybe it’ll get used. Instead it’s going to end up in a landfill somewhere because nobody is going to want to buy something that may or may not have been tampered with. It’s so wasteful

Can't feel pain if you're dead. Product as described [✓]

I remember a rather bizarre result from the Tylenol murders. A lion at the Philadelphia Zoo was sponsored by J&J and had been named “Tylenol”. The big cat was quickly given a new name after the murders.

Fun fact: this case (more specifically Johnson & Johnsons response and action) gets taught or at least mentioned in public relation and crisis communication classes ALLLL the time, is used as a case study and is in textbooks as a basically perfect example of crisis communication and management.

Johnson and Johnson's response to this tragedy was immediate, far reaching, and focused on mourning those who died and doing everything in their power to be sure it never happened again. To this day it's considered the perfect response from an industry leader to situations like this. I was a senior in high school when this happened and it was equal parts scary and fascinating to see the whole thing play out. Strangely, I still tend to choose pills over capsules if that's an option, and I assume it's from this case. For those who are a bit younger and think the Halloween candy scares came about at the same time, those actually started much earlier (although the Tylenol scare triggered increased fears), in the 1960s our parents would throw away apples given as Halloween treats because of some random and far-reaching urban legend about kids being cut badly by razor blades which were hidden inside. In the early 1970s many local hospitals offered to x-ray bags of Halloween candy to ensure no foreign objects were present. Crazy stuff since no actual cases of this ever were documented.

Because of this, on Halloween 1982 my parents did not allow me to go Trick or Treat, but instead they bought candy for me and a friend (which they inspected thoroughly), then turned us loose, dressed in our costumes, on a local arcade. Then we went for pizza. Best Halloween night ever.

Being born in '84 I've always been floored by the fact that there was ever a time that OTC medications, foods, etc., WEREN'T sealed and tamper-evident. My 75yo mother always said "People just didn't DO things like that Tylenol thing before then." Maybe not _poison,_ but you will never convince me that nothing ever got fucked around with before safety seals. You just didn't know it.

Growing up, my parents made it a point that everything consumable we bought had to have an intact safety seal. I'm close to 40 and I still take safety seals very seriously specifically because this case comes to mind. Even if it's obvious the seal was disrupted unintentionally we either return the item or toss it. We don't buy ice cream that doesn't have a seal because for some reason the ice cream industry has refused to catch up by simply sealing the cartons.

I was only a child when this happened and kids, in general, don't always understand the significance or magnitude of certain incidents. But even at 7 years old I remember my parents losing their minds over this. Everything changed, especially candy at Halloween. We weren't allowed to touch the candy we collected until it was checked by mom or dad. We weren't allowed to eat the mints at restaurants, use their toothpicks or anything else that used to be considered a small treat during an outing. It was a really weird and very scary time to live in Chicago.

I really like the fact that you’re covering other disasters/mysteries. You could talk about ANY event/accident/murder/mystery and I’d enjoy it. It’s your approach, your sense of humour and your humanity. ❤

I was working at a medical supply company when this took place. People were majorly freaked out. We lost a little bit of business but manufacturers were pretty quick to adopt tamper-proof packaging.

We've just had an issue here in Japan similar to the ice-cream licking. People were going to kaiten-zushi restaurants (those sushi restaurants where they send you your order on a conveyor belt) and tampering the orders for other customers as they trundled on by. Adding a ton of wasabi where people couldn't see, etc.

One of the later "copycat" poisonings was indeed solved, and the story is quite bizarre, and worth its own video. There was a _Law & Order: Criminal Intent_ episode, entitled simply "Poison", based on it.

I had a friend who took a single Tylenol 3 for a migraine and he never woke up... It was just plain Tylenol 3 but he had some sort of extreme reaction to the codeine. His parents were the ones who gave him the Tylenol 3, they're practically shells of their former selves now

This happened when I was a wee child. I barely remember the time before nearly all our products come in tamper-proof containers, but trust in Tylenol certainly rebounded quite quickly after this happened. I think the fact they made such a swift response and their design work for the tamper-proofing certainly helped.

Agree with the legacy scale rating. There's not a lot of items you can buy in the grocery store that don't have some type of seal that would be very hard to put back once you opened it.

Even to this day Tylenol tends to be more fastidiously sealed than other brands of OTC pills, including even other Johnson & Johnson brands like Motrin (their brand of ibuprofen). It always has both a neck seal to keep the cap on, and a foil seal inside, and it almost always comes in a glued box. A lot of other brands will only have 2 out of 3. I always assume the extra caution for Tylenol is a legacy of it being the brand most associated with the need for secure packaging.

I was a teenager when this was happening. The rapid adoption of tamper resistant containers in a variety of food and drug packaging Is what stands out the most for me.

This is absolutely bizarre, I was just talking about this exact thing after she asked why medicines have so many seals. What a weird time for you to talk about this!

I was a child when this happened and, yeah, I remember how much everything changed overnight. It wasn't until I went back to school to finish my undergrad degree in 2008-2010 that I learned in my chemistry 101 class that the murders were still unsolved.

One thing I didn't hear (and don't see anyone else mentioning) is that this happened as doctors were starting to warn parents about Reye syndrome, at least here in the US. Reye is a really severe disease that can happen when a child takes aspirin while sick with chicken pox. Tylenol was a very commonly suggested substitute, and (at least in my family) was seen as much safer to give to children. So not only were these poisonings terrible, in general, but they caused particular anxiety to parents of young children.

I was going to HS in the Chicago suburbs when this happened. I remember how it went from 3 to 4 to 5....deaths. We actually had a bottle of Tylenol capsules around, my mom pitched them out as soon as it was tied to them. I doubt it was any danger since we'd had the bottle for a few months already.

To this day, I check for anything I buy to make sure it's sealed. This case was before I was born, too. It was just engrained in us by our parents to look.

Perfect and scary timing - I've been in bed with the flu all week, and had just taken a couple of extra-strength Tylenol to lower my fever before I made my weekly check on what disaster PD had served up for us this week! Thanks, John, for reminding me of one of the most frightening random murder sprees in crime history!

My grandmother overheard this while I was watching this and she was like 🤯 the memories, and just spilled a whole story of it to me 😂. Love times like that

I work in pharma manufacturing (though we don't make Tylenol) and this story is told in training to all employees as a lesson in why tamper evident seals are important as well as other cGMPs that are done during manufacturing (labels are tightly regulated, for example, so someone couldn't steal some and put it on fake product).

I was too young when this happened to understand it all, but my parents always stressed the need to check seals. Because of that, I started seeing what seals I could circumvent; it's a lot of them. And I'm not talking about things where you use a bunch of tools and painstakingly open something, I'm just talking about things you can do with just your hands. Slipping seals off packaging and then back on is surprisingly easy in a lot of cases. That said, medicine is the exception.

I was a brand new nurse in Sept 1982 working in suburban Chicago. This event freaked most of my co-workers and myself when we had to give a patient Tylenol. The hospital I worked at took photos of all the boxed up Tylenol from the Pharmacy that were to be destroyed and posted the photos on every unit. For a time, we only gave Tylenol by the rectal method.

I have a relative who works at Johnson & Johnson, and the poisonings still cast a long shadow at her workplace (she started working there after poisonings). Great video, as always, Plainly Difficult ❤❤

In Eastern Europe, up until 1998 or so they were still selling paracetamol pills in similar bottles, just a press fit similar to photo film containers and some cotton balls on top. Easy to tamper with. Recently they all moved to blister packs or at least a foil seal on top of the bottles.

Even though I was a kid at the time I still remember when this happened and when nothing was tamper proof. It was absolutely terrifying for everybody and not just those in Chicago, because nobody knew what else or where else the poisoning may have occurred. The aftermath of the Tylenol deaths, affected all of our lives and will continue to do so. Thanks for another great video!

This situation was used as a case study in my Ethics class in Uni. J&J handled this like a true master. The company immediately responded with help with the investigation, unlike a recent rail company I won't name. J&J also took responsibility to ensure that this could never happen again with their products, from the 3 seal bottles to the way they securely close the capsules and have the company name and info printed on the tablets themselves. I am old enough to remember before the Tylenol murders/poisonings as well as the after. I don't think the preparator intended on being the cause of a worldwide industry change, but here we are. 😊

It's largely from this incident that we got tamper proof packaging.

Thanks for helping me explain to my children why their poor, arthritic mother can no longer easily open medication bottles. Love your work!

I grew up (and still live) a couple of hours drive west of Chicago and vividly remember this event. Both at home and at school we were taught that you never eat or drink anything with packaging that appears to have been tampered with in any way. It really did change the way lots of things, not just OTC medications, were packaged. I'm pretty sure my parents swore off ever taking any OTC medication that was in capsule form for decades afterwards. Even today they're still a bit leery of taking even prescribed medications in capsule form.

"What would you think if I said taking a painkiller would actually kill you?" Are you calling me a pain?

I was in high-school in the Chicago land area when this happened, and it was indeed big news and scary. Younger folks today know only of over the counter medication with child resistant and sealed bottles, and this case is the reason for that.

I remember when this happened. Prior to this it was actually easy to open the bottles. I didn't realize it was unsolved.

Every chapter ended so abruptly that I thought my phone died or my AirPods disconnected, cmon man😂anyway great work on the video 👍🏽

I was 9 when this happened. It was right before Halloween & it eviscerated trick or treating for years after. The cool thing that came about was that instead of trick or treating that year my parent’s let me have a party & a bunch of kids, who wouldn’t normally, came to my house.

I was in high school when this happened. It really changed how people looked at the products they purchased, and not just with medicine.

I remember the empty shelves in 1982 at the local grocery stores.

I was only a child but I remember this one, the copycats were terrible, people put acid in eye drops, ground glass… it was shocking. I love your work, have you ever looked at the Granville Train disaster in Sydney? A guy my dad worked with was in it, he got out, got a cab to work and never spoke about it except when they asked him why he was 2 hours late to work that day.

Well done. Yeah as an oldie I was in my late teens during this crisis. It changed everything in packaging of so many things. John you are the best.

So weird, I just happened to be thinking today about whether I was born before things were “sealed for your safety.” I’m from Chicago and was born in 1982; I remember people taking about this through the 80s/90s when I was a kid.

I knew that this was why medicines are tamper proof but didn’t realise it was still unsolved. Glad we now have safer packaging, and in some places limits on how much you can buy (good for prevention of accidental/intentional OD)

I think the 80's being 40 years ago is just as scary.

I TOTALLY Remember this incident!! I was in my young teens when this was going down, and my Mom was having a terrible headache and was getting to get Tylenol meds, when I yelled out, "...MOM, Don't, it could be poisoned!!!" She didn't hear of the news of the warnings being placed on the news. She actually kept the bottle of the OLD Product and compared it to the NEW Product, seemed pretty secured... As for her headache that moment, well she got 'Bayer' meds and has been using that, Until 'Advil' came out then we would ALWAYS use 'Advil'. Point being --> Since the tampering issue, we Never went back to 'Tyenol', it is Not even found in this person med cabinet, nor my other siblings family.......What A Change!!!

It confused me so much when I found out that paracetamol and acetaminophen are the same thing. I am already dreading needing to relearn all these medication names. Great video, btw, I was a little surprised you hadn't done one on this incident yet.

My mom went to school with Mary Kellerman. She tells me the story of how kids were called out of class one by one after their parents called scared about tylenol they had sent in their backpacks asking them to collect the pills from them.

I vividly remember when I was a kid when this happened. My grandfather owned a grocery store and when he heard the news from his suppliers giving him a call and asking him to pull all the Johnson and Johnson Tylenol he had and if he had a list of sales to call those who bought Tylenol within the past week. It certainly was a innocent time back then you never would imagine something like this happening.

I love that we always get a weather update for London at the end of every video.

My mom used to tell me about this all the time as a kid in the 80's. Now I see why!

I have had health problems all my life, my dad too had his share. I clearly remember this happening from our Ling Island NY home. Watching the TV news and my mom bugging out when the guy was bagged in NYC.... Another awesome video!

To be fair, as a brit, we probably *have* both had a Tylenol, in that Tylenol is just a brand name for paracetamol/acetaminophen as far as I'm aware (similar to how motrin/advil are US brand names for ibuprofen). I know that fact was mentioned in the video, of course, but it should be noted that as far as its actual effect goes, the base drug is the key thing, so I don't think there's any medical difference between a 500mg tylenol and a 500mg paracetamol dose available anywhere else

Please do more of these!!! I love listening while cleaning or even just playing minecraft, love what you do, please keep doing it!!!

I was less than a year old when this happened. It's hard to believe that it's been so long and that no one has been brought to justice. J & J handled it exactly as they should have.

I like how this channel is branching out to other things instead of disasters and stuff love your format dude

i’m a pharmacy tech and born well after this case, it’s wild to me that there was a time where all the meds i handle every day just didn’t have the safety seal??? i feel like that would also make them expire quicker because once a bottle is opened it’s shelf life is significantly reduced (obviously not the main issue here, but just another thought)

I was just old enough when this happened to remember the world before it, kind of like people born in the early '90s can vaguely remember the world before 9/11. In both cases, L.P. Hartley's line from his 1953 novel _The Go-Between_ applies: "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there."

That ice-cream licking scandal was also simply something foreign: I've never seen an un-sealed tub of ice cream ever unless it was filled manually for myself at the parlor.

This is crazy! This happened when my parents were kids. I always assumed that seals were for freshness and stuff, but this makes everything make a bit more sense. I never even thought about people tampering with products like that! Super interesting video, as always

I was just looking for documentaries on this case, and then you release one. Serendipity at its finest.

Boy, do I remember this. I was younger, but I still remember the empty shelves and the fear that was going on at the time

There were an incredible number of copycats of these incidents, both total hoaxes and actual attempts on people's lives. I was a little too young to know and understand everything that was going on, but I remember the sense of painc being constantly inflamed by the news stories coming out. I hope everyone is doing well, and having a great day!

Quickly one of my favorite channels. Keep it up boss man. Was just thinking before this case how often the people accused of this shit go and commit some other murder or horrendous crimes and what the odds actually are that so many insane people end up suspects

Love your videos, and have been watching for quite a while now. This is probably my favorite so far though. Not necessarily because of the subject at hand, but I really loved your voiceover in this one. Not sure what it is that set this one apart from the others, but your line delivery seems slightly different here and I really liked that! Keep at it John!

I was 27 years old when this happened and I remember it very well. I have never been able to understand why someone would do such a thing. Even if you have a problem with the company why would you kill innocent strangers? This is just evil beyond my comprehension.

One *MILLION* dollars! Honestly, the described "drill-board method" should be readily apparent to anyone familiar with pharmacology or compounding pharmacies - a vaguely similar tool is used to hand-load a batch of capsules for patients. It allows a precise dose to be loaded into a batch of capsules with relative speed.

Me, an American, being so confused when you called Tylenol paracetamol… well I learned something new from this video. Just found your channel and I am enjoying your videos!

You're work is magnificent. My favorite part is your weather report at the end. Love it.

One thing that was changed (at least over here) is that over the counter medications could not be taken directly from a shelf. They're always behind a counter so people have to ask staff for a package that way tampering cannot be done by strangers as any returns will get destroyed rather than be put back on the shelf.

I remember this case clearly. I was roughly 24 when this happened. We were all terrified. Anyone with any sense checked their medicine packages after that to be certain those packages had not been tampered with. I also remember that we thought Johnson and Johnson might well go under.

I vaguely remember this happening; I was just a kid. This and then the poisoning sent at Halloween somewhere around the same time really changed the atmosphere. No more personal goodies; everything had to be store-bought and wrapped for safety. But it may be why I don’t like to buy capsules now. Unless it’s a prescription, I get tablets/caplets usually.

I enjoy your content as it is. Thanks for having such great quality videos!

As if you are not busy enough already, I would love to hear your take on the 25kg canister of cesium-137* that has been missing in Thailand since February. That should be a real hoot. Thanks, John, for all you do.

If you ever wondered why you have to struggle with those damned blister packs to get each individual capsule out of the package, THIS is why.

I gotta say, this is one of your graetest videos ever! Well done!

Very well done. I remember this bizarre thing very vividly but had absolutely no idea it had never been definitively solved!

I remember an episode of COPS where the cops came up to some guy who told the police "Took 15 Tylenol... Feeling pretty buzzed!"😂

0:01 "I'll tell you who does a nice paracetamol, Morrisons"

Outro song is a banger! Love your content, been watching for years. Thank you for what you do.

A new plainly difficult video is exactly what I needed with my coffee this morning.

My parents remember this well. To this very day my mother will not take Tylenol. I use a natural treatment for headaches- it’s called staying well hydrated to avoid dehydration… THE LEADING CAUSE OF HEADACHES!!

Cant tell you how many times weve referenced this incident when i worked at a pharmaceutical company. Like whenever we covered CGMP, or ALCOA, this was brought up at some point

This is a well put together and interesting video! Good work! 👍

I remember this well. Tylenol eventually gave up on the capsule form altogether (in Canada). Always interesting to hear the additional details you dig up on these crimes

I was 14 when this happened - my parents tossed out all of our medicine in our cabinets even though we lived halfway across the US from Chicago. One main theory is a wife wanted to kill her husband, she laced his Tylenol capsules with cyanide, but to make it appear accidental, she returned to the store she bought the medicine from and randomly put poisoned capsules into bottles so that her husband was just one of the unlucky people who got a tainted bottle. I also remember how people were blaming Tylenol (the company manufacturer) for producing tainted capsules before it was realized it was not FROM the company, but poisoned when they were on the shelves of the store(s). I don't remember if she spread it across several stores or just one.

Regulation is written in blood, and investigations like this are why they must be consistent.

Yeah I remember this. This is why we have caplets…supposedly all the benefits of capsules (easy to swallow) but in tablet form so no one can refill it. Also coated tablets too.

Another great video. Thank you!

I think one of the worst things about this story is the fact that a nurse had a theory about the Tylenol but she was ignored, I believe due to the unfounded thought that she was a female nurse and didn't have the same knowledge as male doctor

Putting the "killer" in "painkiller" Interesting and informative

I remember this. And I remember how in Australia, almost overnight, the regulations for drug and food packaging were changed.

I was so happy when they started sealing foods and meds. I had been grocery shopping for my family for ten years when the murders happened, and always was unhappy with how vulnerable products were...that anyone could open a jar or package and do something bad to it. When the poisoning story and warnings came out I went through everything to make sure we didn't have any. It was terrifying to realize a murderer could reach into your home that way.

One of the first memories of news I have is the tylenol story. Pretty sure my parents were unnerved by it; I was only 5. Always a bit fuzzy on the details. I'm from a 1000 miles away.

John, you and I must be close in age because I do not recall, nor can I fathom not having safety seals and antitampering features on consumable goods.😱 It was a bummer for me as a kid to think about how cruel some people could be. Their apparent disregard for human life was depressing. Not to mention, Halloween, as we knew it, was ruined forever. My personal disaster and legacy scale were skewed due to my selfish youth. The Tylenol poisoning rated a 10 and a 10 because I couldn't go trick-or-treating anymore. If I'd known then what I know now, I would have thrown myself on the floor, cried, and yelled out, "BALLS!".

I love the eerie music you composed for "The letter" section. It really gives a disturbing atmosphere in the video

People used to do stuff like this with baby food and jams in the UK which resulted in the safety seal buttons on jars.