The Approved Theory of the Tylenol Murders
Had officials revealed the true modus operandi of the Tylenol killer, the public would have learned in 1982 what they're beginning to learn today; that the U.S. government, specifically the FDA was, as it is, incapable of securing the drug distribution channel. The safety of our drug supply for the past twenty-six years has been in the hands of corporate executives and organized criminals; their difference negligible. Johnson & Johnson, the FDA and FBI covered up important evidence so that the Tylenol killer would not be brought to justice.
Evidence about the Tylenol tamperings was skewed, altered, and buried in a well planned campaign of deception that consisted of four components of what I call the “approved theory”. The approved theory was developed to convince the public that the Tylenol capsules were tampered with by some "madman" after the Tylenol bottles were placed on the retail store shelves. According to J&J executives and government officials, the capsules could not have been adulterated while in the channel of distribution. But in fact, the Tylenol capsules were filled with cyanide in the distribution channel by an agent of Johnson & Johnson or one of its customers.
The Four Lies of the Approved Theory
1.) Tylenol was bottled and packaged at the manufacturing facility.
Johnson & Johnson, the FDA, and FBI withheld information and made countless false statements about the distribution of Tylenol. They lied about how, when and where the Tylenol was packaged. Their campaign of misinformation was intended to divert attention away from the actual tampering location. J&J effectively eliminated themselves, their distributors, and their repackagers as suspects in the Tylenol murders investigation, thereby eliminating from the investigation the point in the channel of distribution where the Tylenol capsules were actually filled with cyanide.
2.) The tampering occurred locally, at the retail store.
This component was the cornerstone of the approved theory of the Tylenol murders. In order to "prove" that the distribution system was safe and that neither J&J nor their customers were liable for the Tylenol tamperings, Johnson & Johnson and their FDA and FBI partners had to convince the public that the tamperings occurred locally, at the retail stores.
3.) Cyanide corrodes through gelatin-based capsules within days.
That gelatin-based Tylenol capsules would degrade within days of being filled with cyanide was pawned off as "scientific evidence" that the tampering occurred within thirty-six hours of the murders, while the Tylenol was sitting on the retail store shelves. J&J executives and FDA officials stated many times that because cyanide is a corrosive, it would have caused the capsules to degrade within days. Therefore, they said, the contamination could not have occurred when the Tylenol was at Johnson & Johnson’s distribution facility months earlier. In addition, they claimed that the tampering could not have taken place at any point in the channel of distribution, because the capsules would have deteriorated before being purchased at the local retail stores. This hypothesis was discredited by the evidence in 1982; and in 1986 this component of the approved theory was exposed as a fraud.
4.) The Tylenol Killer was an anonymous madman.
The FBI, with assistance from J&J and the FDA, developed a psychological profile of the Tylenol Killer. The fictional profile drew attention away from the obvious suspects; the employees who worked in the distribution channel for Johnson & Johnson and their customers. The FBI profile of the Tylenol killer was used as a marketing tool to keep the public focused on an anonymous madman who, according to officials, had gone to seven Chicago area stores, put cyanide into a random number of capsules from eight bottles of Extra-Strength Tylenol, and then set the bottles back on the store shelves where five were purchased by the unsuspecting victims. Their theory of the killer's modus operandi is easily discredited by the facts.
By successfully promoting all four components of the approved theory, Johnson & Johnson removed themselves and their customers from the list of suspects most likely to have been involved in the Tylenol poisonings. The FDA and FBI were aligned with J&J's agenda; they all wanted to keep hidden the truth about the unsafe drug distribution system.
The approved theory of the Tylenol murders was a red herring that effectively drew the American public off the path that would have led them straight to the dangers that lurked within the unsecured drug distribution channel. The approved theory is the genesis of a marketing campaign that has been used for 26 years to cover up the dangerous state of the wild wild west of a food and drug distribution system that exists to this day.