Tamper-proof packaging
Tamper-proof packaging refers to the protective measures implemented on consumer products, particularly pharmaceuticals, to prevent unauthorized access or contamination. Its evolution gained significant momentum after the 1982 Tylenol murders, where tampering with over-the-counter medications led to tragic consequences, prompting a public outcry for enhanced safety measures. In response, manufacturers developed packaging that includes features such as sealed boxes, plastic sleeves, and tamper-evident caps to safeguard against potential poisonings.
While the introduction of tamper-proof packaging helped restore consumer confidence in products like Tylenol, it also introduced challenges for legitimate users, especially the elderly or disabled, who may find such packaging difficult to open. Additionally, the increased packaging contributes to environmental waste, a concern in today's sustainability conversations. Beyond pharmaceuticals, tamper-proof measures have expanded to various consumer goods, including baby foods and cosmetics, reflecting a broader societal acknowledgment of the need for vigilance against both intentional and unintentional product contamination. Overall, tamper-proof packaging has become a standard expectation for safety in consumer products, illustrating a cultural shift towards heightened awareness of potential dangers in everyday items.
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Tamper-proof packaging
Product packaging designed to frustrate attempts to alter its contents
After the Tylenol murders, consumer fears about the safety of over-the-counter medications were partly allayed by the development of protective packaging.
Prior to the 1980’s, medicines such as asprin were routinely placed on open shelves with nothing more than screw-on caps and a wad of cotton inside. Some medicines might be sold in boxes, but their flaps generally slid in and out with ease. The first kind of protective packaging used by pharmaceutical companies, the familiar “push down and turn” lid, came only after wide publicity focused on the accidental poisonings of small children. However, child-proof caps were primarily intended to protect the innocent from their own curiosity, and they often frustrated adults seeking to take their medications. As a result, packages without child-proof lids were made available for the elderly and other people living in households without small children.
Tylenol Murders
This casual approach to pharmaceutical safety changed after the 1982 Tylenol murders in Chicago. The murders made plain in the most shocking way possible the vulnerability of over-the-counter medicines to being made vehicles for poisoners’ malice. Not only were all Tylenol products swept from store shelves while investigators tried to determine how extensive the contamination was, but also many other non-prescription drugs were withdrawn because of fears of copycat criminals seeking further media attention at the expense of human life.
Immediately after the Tylenol killings, there was real concern that the murders might end the sale of over-the-counter medications, making it necessary to reinstitute policies requiring pharmacists to keep even non-prescription medications behind their counters. However, consumer advocates called upon pharmaceutical corporations to cooperate with the Food and Drug Administration to develop alternative means of protecting the public from future tainting of common drugs. The solution they developed was to create barriers that would make it difficult or impossible for future poisoners to imitate the Tylenol murders.
The most obvious security solution was to seal the flaps of boxes containing retail drugs. In order to open the sealed boxes, it became necessary to tear the flap loose, leaving visible damage. However, there was concern that a sufficiently skilled poisoner might develop a means to loosen such flaps without leaving tell-tale damage. As a result, it was decided to add additional layers of protection, such as a plastic sleeve around the neck of a bottle, or a paper under the lid that sealed the bottle’s neck altogether.
In addition, it was noted that the Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules that had been the primary vehicle for the Tylenol murders had been adulterated by carefully pulling apart the two halves of each capsule, dripping in a droplet of cyanide, and reassembling the capsule. As a result, it was decided that rigid plastic capsules would henceforth be restricted to prescription medicines, which were considered less vulnerable to tampering because access to them was restricted. All over-the-counter medicines that could not be administered in tablet form would henceforth use a softer gelatin-based capsule that would crush or disintegrate if disassembled.
Impact
The development of tamper-proof packaging enabled the public to regain confidence in the safety of over-the-counter medicines. Within a matter of months, the sale of Tylenol products returned to levels comparable to those prior to the Tylenol murders. However, security came at a price. Protective packaging was often difficult and frustrating for legitimate users to remove, particularly if they were elderly or disabled. Furthermore, all the additional packaging had to be discarded, adding to the burden on the nation’s landfills. However, it was generally agreed that these downsides were an acceptable price to pay for safety.
More subtly, the growing ubiquity of tamper-proof packaging marked a loss of innocence by the American people. Every protective sleeve and inner lid that had to be peeled off a bottle of over-the-counter medicine was a reminder that there were people out there who could not be trusted—who, if given a chance, would be happy to do others harm through devious means. Although the immediate fear of product tampering soon receded, the sense that the world was a fundamentally dangerous place became an artifact of American culture.
In time, the use of tamper-proof and tamper-evident packaging moved beyond the pharmaceutical industry to include many other products that were susceptible to malicious tampering or even inadvertent contamination by careless shoppers. Many prepared foods—particularly baby foods, which were seen as particularly vulnerable because of the helplessness and innocence of their intended consumers—soon received various forms of protective packaging. Cosmetics formed another group of consumer products that began to be enclosed in various forms of shrink-wrap or protective bands, rather than simply being marketed in loose-lidded boxes, as it became obvious that careless “sampling” of such products could pass infections. By the end of the 1980’s, it had become unthinkable to purchase many of these items from open shelves if their protective packaging was not firmly in place.
Bibliography
Dean, D. A. Pharmaceutical Packaging Technology. Oxford, England: Taylor and Francis, 2000. Detailed explanation of how tamper-proof and tamper-evident packaging is produced. Somewhat technical, but a good source of in-depth information.
Jenkins, Philip. Decade of Nightmares: The End of the Sixties and the Making of Eighties America. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Helps place the development of tamper-proof packaging within a larger cultural context that goes beyond the obvious impetus of product tampering.
Useem, Michael. The Leadership Moment: Nine True Stories of Triumph and Disaster and Their Lessons for Us All. New York: Three Rivers Press, 1998. Includes among its nine studies that of the Tylenol murders and how Johnson & Johnson restored the reputation of its brand by aggressively promoting tamper-proof packaging to prevent similar incidents.