Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 1983, Page 16

Description:	From Tylenol scare to PLO,news of 1982-83 unsettling?.i 3?From the Tylenol scare to the PLO,news events of the year were unsettling.Wednesday, Oct. 6, 1982, seven people died from consumption of cyanidecontained in capsules of Extra StrengthTylenol. Although these deaths werelimited to the Chicago area, people allover the United States were advised notto take any of the capsules. These warnings came from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after Johnson &Johnson subsidiary, McNeil ConsumerProducts Corp., recalled two batches ofthe medicine — 264,400 bottles all overthe nation.Drugstores pulled all boxes off theshelves. Investigators did not rule out thepossibility of tampering during themanufacturing process but concernedthemselves more with the possibility ofits happening someplace along thedistribution chain.Since the threat was generally locatedin Chicago, officials there took to thestreets to warn citizens. All over theUnited States, police cruisedneighborhoods shouting over bullhorns,Boy Scouts went door to door, andschools sent notices home with children.Halloween came; and because of thisscare, many children had set hours forTOP: Alabamas former CrimsonTide coach Paul Bear Bryantdied a few weeks after he retiredfrom coaching. (Photo courtesy ofthe Indiana Daily Student andAssociated Press)BOTTOM: Tylenol capsules werelaced with cyanide to make one ofthe biggest non-prescription drugscares ever.trick-or-treating. Pranksters did try some Ithings with other OTC drugs, but noneresulted in deaths. Then McNeil Corp.put commercials on TV saying that nomatter what kind of medicine it was, oneshould look for signs of tampering. TheExtra Strength Tylenol capsules were jput in tamper resistant bottles.Almost two weeks after the Tylenolscare, the Oct. 18 issue of Newsweek Icontained a report saying that 10.1 percent of U.S. citizens were unemployed.Though interest rates were declining and %the Dow Jones industrial average rose Ialmost 80 points, it brought no relief tothe increasing unemployment figures.When December came, even moreAmericans were out of work. Approx- 9imately 12 million people were jobless.The unemployment rate was at 11 percent—a post-war high. The Republicanadministration was trying to find temporary jobs to get some Americans backto work. According to the Dec. 13, jg-1982, Newsweek, the unemploymentrate hit its highest level in four decades,stunning the experts and alarming the h=politicians. White House forecasters I »predicted the rate would not go belownine percent until after 1984.Continued on page 17 O-A>Cama\|gs-«eJ16 News
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/1958
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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