Over The Counter Cold Medicine

Murder by Tylenol

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Mary K. had a scratchy throat. Adam J. had bronchitis. Mary R., fresh off childbirth, had full-body aches. Mary M. had a raging headache. Stan J. and his wife, Theresa, had suffered the sudden loss of a loved one. Paula P. just needed to settle the nerves after a red-eye flight. One by one, these seven Chicago area residents popped Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules. It was September 29, 1982. All were dead within 24 hours.

What we know about the Chicago Tylenol murders, as the incidents became known, is we don’t know much of anything.

First, some facts we do know: The victims ingested potassium cyanide-laced capsules. These were purchased over the counter at five stores scattered about Chicago and surrounding suburbs. Mass hysteria – and the most intense media furor since Kennedy’s assassination – ensued. Confounded local, state, and national law enforcement convened a 140 person investigative task force to crack the case, a flashpoint in the narratives of Big Pharma and the Food and Drug Administration. The Federal Anti-Tampering Act of 1983 ( pdf ) was a sweeping revision to how we go about packaging food and drugs. This saw marked shifts away from capsules – manipulated with little trace – to solid tablets.

It only got more batshit. Tips poured in, some anonymous, of lone-wolf crazies and international terror/crime syndicates alike. Investigators would amass 15,000 pages of documents, test millions of Tylenol capsules, and interview 400 persons of interest – out of a pool of 20,000.

Two key suspects emerged. Roger Arnold, a chemist and dockhand at a Jewel Foods warehouse west of Chicago, was cleared of any blame. But he’d crack under the media’s gaze, getting 30 years for point-blanking John Stanisha, a guy he mistakenly took for a bar owner, Marty Sinclair, whom Arnold thought had instigated the unwanted attention. Arnold was convicted in 1984 for second-degree murder. He’d be released after serving half his sentence, then die in 2008.

Medicine For Kids | health

Started as a dry cough but has gotten worse, no fever or runny nose

As more and more of these substances are studied, the more we learn that they’re really not helpful at all. There are no alternative medicines that are any better, either. The old-time doctor’s recommendations remain the best advice there is: the only cure for a cold is time. Meanwhile, keep the person out of the wet and cold as much as possible, give plenty water to drink, and avoid caffeine (found in most soft drinks as well as coffee and tea) and alcoholic beverages. Tylenol, Motrin or aspirin are proper to reduce fever, but only for two or three days. Be patient. And if symptoms become markedly worse, take the child to a physician.

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