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From: avinash@ubvax.UUCP (Avinash Marathe)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Drug capsules
Message-ID: <462@ubvax.UUCP>
Date: Mon, 3-Mar-86 13:38:21 EST
Article-I.D.: ubvax.462
Posted: Mon Mar  3 13:38:21 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 7-Mar-86 04:44:34 EST
References: <217@bu-cs.UUCP>
Reply-To: avinash@ubvax.UUCP (Avinash Marathe)
Organization: Ungermann-Bass, Inc., Santa Clara, Ca.
Lines: 43

In article <217@bu-cs.UUCP> bzs@bu-cs.UUCP (Barry Shein) writes:
>
>Ok, I've been thinking about all this tylenol stuff and I believe the
>following for absolutely no factual reason:
>
>	I predict it will be discovered that something in
>	tylenol's manufacturing process added the cyanide,
>	or somehow caused it to be generated while in capsule.
>	That is, it was not put there by a person with malicious
>	intent.
>
>My only reasoning is that their proof that things were tampered with
>seems pretty thin.  ........................... Anyone know anything
>concrete? Is it just that the interested parties are more comfortable
>with the lone terrorist theory than shaking our faith in the system?
>
>	-Barry Shein, Boston University


I watched the CEO of Johnson & Johnson being interviewed on Donahue and
the explanation he gave was as follows.  The two bottles of tylenol belonged
to two different batches and were found a mile apart in two different stores
(Woolworth and A&P).  Now J&J shipped these two different batches from two
different locations to the main distribution centers of Woolworth and A&P.
These distribution centers in turn shipped batches to each of their stores.
In this scenario the probability of these two bottles landing up a mile apart
from each other is very very small (1 in a billion or trillion, I don't 
remember).

Another interesting detail that he mentioned was that both bottles may have
had exactly five contaminated capsules.  The unused portion of the bottle
found in the victim's apartment had 3 contaminated capsules.  So if she
ingested 2 capsules, that's a total of five.  The other bottle found
on the store's shelf had exactly five contaminated capsules.  It seems 
pretty unlikely that exactly five capsules in each bottle could be 
contaminated due to an error in the manufacturing process.

The CEO did acknowledge that none of this proves anything.

Disclaimer:  I am in no way affiliated with J&J.

Avinash Marathe
{ihnp4,allegra,decwrl}!amd!ubvax!avinash