AMERICAN FRAUD and The Tylenol Murders
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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-seven 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 three 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.
 
 
 
 

Three Components of the Approved Theory

 

 

1.) The tampering occurred at the Chicago area retail stores.

 

This component was the cornerstone of the “approved theory”.  In order to “prove” that the tampering had not occurred during distribution, Johnson & Johnson needed to convince the public that the tamperings occurred in the Chicago area retail stores.  If the tampering was not linked to the manufacturing plants or the distribution channel, neither J&J nor its distributors could be held liable for the tamperings or murders.

 

2.) Cyanide eats through gelatin-based Tylenol capsules within days.

 

The claim that gelatin-based Tylenol capsules would show signs of corrosion within a few days after being filled with cyanide was pawned off on the public as “scientific proof” that the tampering occurred after the Tylenol was delivered to local retail stores.  Officials claimed that because the cyanide would have eaten through the Tylenol capsules in a few days, they could not have been filled with cyanide when they were at the McNeil plants more than a month before the murders.  They further concluded, albeit illogically, that this evidence also meant that the Tylenol capsules couldn’t have been poisoned in the channel of distribution.  This hypothesis was easily discredited by actual scientific evidence in 1982.  This component of the approved theory was later exposed as a complete fraud.

 

3.) The Tylenol Killer was an anonymous madman.

 

The FBI was quick to develop a psychological profile of the Tylenol killer as an angry White loner.  This illusory character drew attention away from the obvious suspects who were likely working within the channel of distribution.  The profile of the Tylenol killer as a madman was heavily promoted in the media.  In the years following the Tylenol murders, officials admitted that they never actually believed that the killer was a madman.

 

The basic premise of the approval theory was laid out by Illinois Attorney General, Tyrone Fahner.  He declared that the Tylenol was not tampered with until it reached the stores, ruling out the possibility that the capsules were filled with cyanide during either manufacturing or distribution.  According to Fahner, the evidence indicated that the tampered bottles were randomly placed in stores shortly before the deaths, probably on Tuesday.  The suspect “secured a number of bottles by theft or purchase in one area,” said Fahner and then “replaced the medicine with cyanide and placed the bottles in area stores.”

 

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 successful promotion of the approved theory allowed Johnson & Johnson and Jewel Companies Inc. to avoid hundreds of millions of dollars in legal fees, penalties, and lost revenue.