"Corked" Tylenol recalled...

[DavidG]

It's not just wine. A huge recall of Tylenol Arthritis has been attributed to 2.4.6 tribromoanisole (TBA) from wooden pallets used to ship packing materials for the product. TBA is very similar chemically to TCA (2,4,6 trichloroanisole). While TCA is typically the culprit for corky wines, and typically comes from a contaminated cork, there have been instances of wood contamination in the cellar as well as instances of TBA causing corked wines.

The contaminated Tylenol has "an unusual moldy, musty, or mildew-like odor." Interesting that the odor was linked to symptoms of nausea, stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea. In my experience, even the worst corked wine hasn't induced any of those symptoms .

[stefan]

So TBA is even worse than TCA, David? I had heard about it infecting wine but did not know that it could cause nausea. Does that happen only with fairly high concentration and does TCA act similarly?

stefan

[Rick]

Stefan
by hign concentration do you mean after you consumed 2 or 3 bottles (of wine that is)?
rick

[DavidG]

Stefan, I don't think TBA is any more likely to cause nausea or diarrhea than TCA. I don't have any scientific evidence (i.e. peer-reviewed literature) to back this up, but my feeling is that some people, when they smelled the typical TCA/TBA moldiness in the Tylenol, just had an exaggerated reaction and possibly blamed the drug for any number of other symptoms, some of which may have been non-organic (i.e. in their heads) and some of which may have been related to whatever other medical condition they had.

[JonB]

I can see easily how shipping pallets provide the environment for TBA, but don't see how this got in the sealed bottle....unless there was a factory contamination issue, which would have effected a large quantity.

[DavidG]

Apparently the contaminated pallets were used to ship the material that the finished drug was packed in. I'm not sure exactly what packaging material was contaminated, but if it was the plastic bottles or the cotton inserts, once the drug was put into the packaging it would be exposed to the TBA as well.

[JonB]

Here's an update article. The wood pallets shipping pallets were tainted with likely a fungicide prohibited in the US. It is not uncommon that fungicides are used overseas to prevent pests from entering the US (e.g. beetles from China is an example). The list of products that are impacted has grown.


http://www.mmh.com/article/447876-Suppl ... id=5978114