Johnson & Johnson at the Tylenol Crossroads

Cyanide in Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules had killed seven people around Chicago, and Johnson & Johnson had recalled two lots nationwide and every bottle there. On 4 October 1982 its chairman, James Burke, put the case for recalling all Extra-Strength capsules to the FBI, where officials opposed a recall for fear of panic. He estimated the cost of a national recall at about $100 million, none of it insured.

The Credo, rewritten in 1979 after Burke had executives argue against it line by line, put users of the company's products first, employees second, communities third and stockholders fourth. Employees and retirees also held shares through profit-sharing programmes. People in the company who wanted no wider recall said the Credo's first responsibility should be balanced against its second and third, since a nationwide recall would mean layoffs at McNeil, which made Tylenol.

On that reasoning, the Credo and the cost analysis supported the same narrower recall. Burke's meeting at the Food and Drug Administration was next, and no national recall had been announced. Learners write in this edition as they read.