J&J expands Motrin, Tylenol, Benadryl recall | DC Metro Area Personal Injury Law Blog

Johnson & Johnson has expanded, to 21 lots, its recall of various over-the-counter medicines in the Tylenol, Motrin, and Benadryl product lines.  The full list of recalled products is here.  Some of the products may be contaminated with a chemical called “2,4,6-tribromoanisole”, “TBA” for short, which had been used to treat loading pallets at a Johnson & Johnson facility in Puerto Rico.

The chemical gave the medicine a musty and moldy smell which more than 70 consumers noticed.  Some of them developed intestinal and abdominal symptoms afterward.  Reports first appeared in November of 2009.  The current recall is part of a second wave of recalls related to TBA contamination.