Do You Know What’s In Your Medication?

In 2010, McNeil Consumer Healthcare surprised consumers when they announced a recall on all forty-six types of their infants’ and children’s products. Trusted medicines like Tylenol, Motrin, Benadryl, Dimetapp, Robitussin, and Triaminic were pulled off store shelves. McNeil informed parents that the products were recalled because they might “contain a higher concentration of an active ingredient than is specified,” they might include “inactive ingredients that may not meet internal testing requirements,” or they might “contain tiny particles.” 1

Johnson & Johnson, the parent company of McNeil, went on to recall other medications for adults, with a total of almost 200 million bottles of medicines recalled. 2 The sweeping recalls also affected pregnant women, since Tylenol is the only recommended pain reliever during pregnancy.

As a mother who had given her children two of the recalled medications, I was alarmed that the medicines contained ingredients – or foreign particles! – that weren’t supposed to be there. Consumers complained about a moldy smell that came from the medicine bottles, along with tiny black particles in the medicines.

Behind closed doors

Johnson & Johnson blamed the moldy scent on 2, 4, 6-tribromoanisole, a chemical used to treat wood pallets that were used in transportation and store product packaging. 3

However, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspected Johnson & Johnson’s manufacturing plant in Fort Washington, Pa., they discovered “thick dust and grime covering certain equipment, a hole in the ceiling and duct tape-covered pipes,” as well as “raw ingredients contaminated by an unspecified bacteria and a lack of quality control procedures.” 4 Pretty disturbing and disgusting to think of a product assumed as safe to be manufactured in such a contaminated environment.

While the FDA monitored Johnson & Johnson’s quality control procedures, many of the products took a while to return to store shelves. In the meantime, consumers were encouraged to use generic drugs – acetaminophen instead of Tylenol, ibuprofen instead of Motrin, and diphenhydramine instead of Benadryl. 5

Unfortunately, there’s no way for consumers to know the conditions of any manufacturing plant or all potential hazards. As a meager way to protect your family, pay attention to recalls. And, if a medication doesn’t seem quite right, don’t use it.

Sources

1. McNeil Consumer Healthcare Product Recall Information.

2. “FDA finds grime at J&J plant, urges use of generics.” Susan Heavey. Reuters. May 5, 2010.

3.“Tylenol recall expanded to Motrin, Benadryl, more.” USA Today. Jan. 21, 2010.

4. “FDA finds grime at J&J plant, urges use of generics.” Susan Heavey. Reuters. May 5, 2010.

5. “Johnson & Johnson recall medicine for infants and children.” Lyndsey Layton. The Washington Post. May 3, 2010.

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