
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 4, 1991                   TAG: 9103040183
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

2 SUDAFED USERS DIE OF POISON

The maker of the popular cold remedy Sudafed announced a nationwide recall of the 12-hour decongestant capsules Sunday after federal officials said they believed two people had died and a third had become ill from taking cyanide-laced capsules.

The three victims, all from Washington state, were unrelated and lived in different towns in neighboring counties.

Officials of the Food and Drug Administration said the victims had purchased the Sudafed in different stores.

One of two links found so far in the three poisonings was the code on the foil packs.

In all three cases, the code was the same: 8U2846.

In addition, the officials said, in each of the three cases the code on the foil packs did not match the code on the outer box.

FDA officials said they did not find evidence of tampering in the remaining capsules in each box.

FDA officials also said they found Sudafed and cyanide in the stomach contents of two victims. The other victim, a man, was cremated before the investigation began.

Investigators and the maker of Sudafed, Burroughs Wellcome Co., of Research Triangle Park, N.C., are treating the incidents as product-tampering cases, like the one involving the deaths of seven people in Chicago during one week in 1982.

All of the Chicago victims had taken cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules.

No one was ever caught in the Chicago killings.

The Sudafed capsules had three protections against tampering, company officials said Sunday.

The gelatin capsules had a blue band around the middle to alert customers to attempts at tampering. The second protection was the foil, or blister, pack, and the third was a printed tab that sealed the box and that would have been noticeable if broken.

The company said Sunday that it had not been able to trace all the locations where shipments with the 8U2846 code were sent and, therefore, decided to order the nationwide recall.

The company has offered refunds or replacements for boxes turned in. It has also set up a toll-free number for customers, 1-800-643-9500, and a toll-free number for retailers, 1-800-643-9400.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB