Are There Extra Drugs In Your Tylenol?

August 26th, 2011

There might be, if you recently purchased a pack from the British drugstore chain Boots. The DailyMail reported that three Boots locations had unwittingly stocked packages of Nurofren Plus, an acetaminophen/codeine tablet, that had been swapped with Seroquel XL, an antipsychotic drug indicated for the treatment of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia. No one is sure how this tampering came about, but Nurofren Plus producer Reckitt Benckiser has reported no knowledge of this foul play.

It’s thought that this may be the work of animal rights activists, since Reckitt Benckiser performs animal testing on some of its products. As for what would happen if one were to accidentally ingest Seroquel? Unfortunately, unlike antidepressants or even other antipsychotics, Seroquel causes severe drowsiness and would compromise one’s ability to operate a car or even walk straight. Perhaps the tampering was targeted toward Reckitt Benckiser, but ultimately those who will suffer are unsuspecting Boots customers.