List of medicine contamination incidents

The following list encompasses notable medicine contamination and adulteration incidents.

• 1937 Elixir sulfanilamide incident: S. E. Massengill Company used diethylene glycol as the solvent, it led to the 1938 Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act[1][2]
• 1942, Nose droppers were found to be contaminated by users to the detriment of subsequent users. Bacterial growth was found in all ephedrine and neosynephrin solutions that were examined.[3]
• 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders: Tylenol pain-relief capsules were laced with potassium cyanide, leading to seven deaths.[4]
• 2007 Panamanian Eduardo Arias discovered that toothpaste sold in his country was labeled as containing diethylene glycol, the same ingredient that had tainted cough syrup and killed 138 Panamanians in 2006. Panamanian officials discovered that the toothpaste had come from China and initiated a global response.[5][6][7] Also in May 2007, the same toothpaste was found in some Costa Rican stores. Fast action by the Ministry of Health, and notification through the media, prevented poisonings due to this product. This event was linked to the death sentence of a former pharmaceuticals control officer in China, as the Costa Rican newspaper La Nación reported on its issue of May 30.[8] On June 4, 2007, a press release by the Chinese Foreign Ministry[9] cited an earlier study in China[10] which concluded that up to 15.6% diethylene glycol in toothpaste is safe. In June 2007, counterfeit Colgate toothpaste imported from China was found to be contaminated with DEG, and several people in the eastern US reported experiencing headaches and pain after using the product.[11] The same occurred in Spain with a false Colgate toothpaste, which contained 6% DEG. The tainted products could be identified by the claim to be manufactured in South Africa by Colgate-Palmolive South Africa LTD; they were 5 oz/100 ml tubes (a size which Colgate does not sell in the United States) and their packaging contained numerous misspellings on the labels. Colgate-Palmolive claimed it does not import products from South Africa into the United States or Canada and that DEG is never and was never used in any of its products anywhere in the world. These counterfeit products were found in smaller mom and pop stores, dollar stores, and discount stores in at least four states.[12] In July 2007, diethylene glycol was found in counterfeit Sensodyne toothpaste, on sale at a car boot sale in Derbyshire, England.[13]
• 2007 Toxic cough syrup in Panama: Pharmaceutical manufacturers used diethylene glycol, which they believed to be glycerine, to make cough syrup.[14]
• 2008 Chinese heparin adulteration[15][16]
• 2009, 84 Nigerian children were reported to have died after being given "My Pikin", a teething syrup contaminated with diethylene glycol.[17]
• 2012: As of 2 November 2012 in the New England Compounding Center meningitis outbreak, 753 cases of fungal infection occurred with 64 deaths due to contaminated injectable medication.
• 2012: 2012 Pakistan fake medicine crisis
• 2017: medical cannabis in California found to contain dangerous bacteria and fungi, causing at least one fatality.[18]