Three Die After Taking Cyanide-Tainted Tylenol

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS. Ill--three people in two Chicago suburbs died of cyanide poisoning after swallowing tainted capsules of Extra-Strength Tylenol, and a search began yesterday for the source and extent of the contamination Nearly 4.7 million pills were promptly recalled by the manufacturer.

A fourth person was hospitalized in extremely critical condition, apparently after taking one of the capsules.

Robert Kniften a spokesman for McNcil Consumer Products Co. the manufacturer of Tylenol, said the company had been notified that two bottles of Extra-Strength tylenol Capsules "Have been tampered with and cyanide poison added to some of the capsules."

In a statement. Kniffen said no product from lot MC2880 should be bought or consumed until further notice, adding that the company had no evidence any other product was contaminated.

He said the recalled lot contained 93,400 bottles containing 50 capsules each and that they had been distributed east of the Mississippi as well as in North Dakota. South Dakota, Nebraska and in part of Wyoming. The expatiation date was April 1987.

Two large drug chains, Jewel Food-Osco Drugs and Walgreens, announced an immediate half in sales of the product in their Midwest stores. State officials said they would decide later in the day whether to order Extra-Strength Tylenol off store shelves.

Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Faye Peterson said in Washington that investigators had been sent to the Pennsylvania plant where Tylenol is made. "We are still gathering information," she said.

Dr Edmund R Donoghue, deputy assistant medical examiner of Cook County, said two brothers in Arlington Heights and a 12-year-old girl in neighboring Flk Grove Village died within 11 hours of each other Wednesday form cardio-pulmonary collapse after taking Extra Strength Tylenol capsules. He said an investigation "definitely confirmed the presence of cyanide" in the over the counter pain reliever.

Donoghue identified the tainted Tylenol as lot number MC2880 in 50-capsule containers, and added, "We don't know the extent of the contamination, but we don't think anybody should be taking Extra-Strength Tylenol at all.

The two brothers died at 3:15 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. CDT Wednesday as a result of cyanide poisoning. The child died at approximately 10 a.m. Wednesday.