The Region : Tainted Eye Drops Found

Several supermarkets and drug stores in Santa Maria have removed half-ounce bottles of Visine eye drops from their shelves after an eye injury to a man who used the tainted product, police said. Merchants in the area were told to pull the product after a 23-year-old man who used the drops was treated for minor eye burns. A chemical believed to be chlorine bleach was apparently injected into the plastic bottle, Police Capt. Russell Mathews said, adding that the incident does not appear to be linked to threats of food contamination in several Los Angeles-area supermarkets hit by a 16-day-old strike by Teamsters and meat cutters. He said the tainted drops were sent to the state Department of Health Services for testing.