A recall of Tylenol-brand products was expanded on Friday after US authorities warned that the manufacturer was too slow in dealing with a public-health threat. The expanded recall covers the pain-reliever and other over-the-counter drugs sold in the United Arab Emirates, the Americas and Fiji. McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a unit of Johnson & Johnson, said it was voluntarily recalling about 500 lots of the products, which include the pain relievers Tylenol, Motrin and St Joseph, a children's aspirin.
Consumers who have an item being recalled should stop using the product and may contact the company for a refund at www.mcneilproductrecall.com. The product lot numbers can be found on the side of the bottle label. In December, the company recalled all lots of a type of Tylenol arthritis product in response to consumer complaints of a foul odour that in some cases had prompted "non-serious" gastrointestinal disorders, including vomiting and diarrhoea.
McNeil said an investigation had shown that the "unusual mouldy" odour was caused by the presence of trace amounts of a chemical called 2,4,6-tribromoanisole. "This can result from the breakdown of a chemical that is sometimes applied to wood that is used to build wood pallets that transport and store product packaging materials," the company said. It added that it would stop using the wooden pallets.
"The health effects of this chemical have not been well-studied, but no serious events have been documented in the medical literature." Deborah Autor, the director of the US Food and Drug Administration's compliance office on drugs, said on Friday that McNeil should have acted faster. "When something smells bad, literally or figuratively, companies must aggressively investigate and take all necessary actions," she said. For a complete list of product lot numbers click here.
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