Hey, there! Log in / Register
1980s Tylenol killer traced to Cambridge and Somerville?
By adamg on Wed, 02/04/2009 - 3:23pm
Wicked Local Cambridge reports the FBI has "an active investigation" going on near the CambridgeSide Galleria related to the Tylenol poisoner, who laced Tylenol tablets sold in Chicago in 1982 with cyanide, but who was never found.
Neighborhoods:
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
East Cambridge strikes
East Cambridge strikes again, *shakes fist*
170 Gore St. isn't near the CambridgeSide Galleria
so either Wicked Local Cambridge or the Somerville News is confused.
Globe and WBZ coverage
FBI searches home of former suspect in Tylenol killings
WBZ's coverage brings our attention to the suspect's website, Cyberlewis.com.
Rant
I would so love to see the person who perpetrated that heinous deed caught and punished.
Aside from the hideousness of having cost people their actual lives, that asshole started the reaction towards packaging we're stuck with now. Every food, beverage, medicine, and just about anything else that could possibly be tampered with, now comes with some sort of inconvenient cap or shrink wrap or cellophane seal or foil covering that pisses me off every time I have to take the extra time to cut it, rip it, saw at it, or puncture it. Add up all of the instances since 1981 and that dope cost each of us a couple of days our of our lives just trying to get at the things we purchased.
I know. Compared to the lives lost, small change. And maybe we would have gone to the packaging sooner than later, anyway. Still, I think of that prick every time I have to remove a tamper-proof cap.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Child-proofing
I thought most of that was to make it hard for small children to open bottles of pills.
More Than Pills
Not only pill bottles were affected. The tamper-proofing spread to almost every consumable product you might name, Ron. Peanut butter never used to come with a pull-away lid inside of the screw-on, to give one example.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Not a snap to open
Or that plastic ring that girdles the cap of my lunchtime Snapple. (Which is also found on a lot of other products.)
Ketchup is the worst
Nothing to grip onto.
psst
Just stick a knife in it, then bring the knife down. Pop!
See, you knew you kept me around for something.
Easier said than done
What about those of us who KNOW the knife trick, but who always insist on using our finger?
"The silverware drawer is too far away. I'll just try...
"Ow.
"Maybe if I get a better angle on...
"OW.
"But look, it stretched a bit. I'm sure it'll give w...
"OW!"
hit the 57 with the heel of your hand...
Pittsburgher secret. If you are using a standard, traditionally shaped bottle of Heinz (the tall, thin one) you're supposed to invert the bottle and hit the 57 embossed on the glass with the heel of your hand and then the ketchup comes right out. I've seen it work, but haven't managed to get it to work myself. I married into a Western Penna family, and all the crazy kids out there do it that way. Works like a charm, an'dat.
We should do an experiment someday.
Cool
Sure beats my standard technique, which is to stick a knife in the bottle, which works, but then leaves you with a knife covered in ketchup.
Yup - it works.
It will take more than one hit, but it will work.
Hmmm ...
I'm surprised that there aren't any of those "abstinence only educators" using this as one of their "demonstrations" in their roadshows. These are the people who get paid big federal bucks to travel to schools and do stupid things to convince kids that sex is evil and dangerous and painful before marriage.
Google "abstinence clown". Honestly.
not just for tamper-proofing
...it also provides a hermetic seal, which lets them use less preservatives, or a longer shelf date.
These days, it's not regular "air" in there under that seal, but nitrogen or similar.
I was born after all this
I was born after all this went down so I dont know what it was like before, but I still wouldnt feel comfortable having that sort of food open. Look at some of the people we share the supermarket with, whats to stop someone from snagging a taste from the container IM going to buy? Even if you take tamperers out of the quation the sanitation part of it would make me lean towards the new containers as well.
Old containers were just fine
Most jars are vacuum-sealed to some extent. Lots of them have little buttons that pop up on the lid. It was usually clear when a jar had been opened, because the top was not firm. The only innovation was the little ubiquitous and hard to remove cellophane ring around the jar lid.
Speaking of Peanut Butter
When are they going to make some arrests in this whole Salmonela mess, where company officials willingly shipped tainted peanut butter and people died?
Although I wrangle with the
Although I wrangle with the death penalty, maybe the Chinese government had the right idea. It's "The Jungle" all over again.
I remember what a frenzy that event was; I was in junior high at the time. Happening as it did in October, it really put a damper on that year's Halloween festivities.
(rod-shaped Gram-negative enterobacteria)
I'm sure it's a violation of law to knowingly ship Salmonella tainted food for human consumption but I don't know what laws were violated. Do you David Yamada?
yup, talk about terrorism
This post brought back memories. It's hard to remember what it was like to buy an OTC medicinal product that wasn't sealed up. And it almost seems naive to harken back to days when we could be so "trusting" so as not to even think that someone would do something like this.
In addition to fear, we get considerable inconvenience and extra costs. Like taking our shoes off and that pain-in-the-ass rule about liquids when we go planeside at airport security.
My bleeding heart liberalism precludes me from calling for the death penalty if they catch the perp(s), but I would not be against sentencing the guilty ones to a lifetime of hard labor: Eight hours a day spent opening sealed containers and -- just to send a message -- DVDs, CDs, and electronics blister packs.
You, Sir, Are A Man After My Own Heart!
I'm no death penalty fan, either, but the idea of him having to open CDs all day is just too delicious for words.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
By hand, I assume, without
By hand, I assume, without benefit of tools?
What a nice idea!