No New Cold-Pill Tampering Discovered

The FBI and the Food and Drug Administration Monday continued to press their investigation of the cyanide-laced Sudafed capsules that killed two people and injured a third in Washington state, but announced no new findings in the case.

The FDA said it has examined 10,000 cartons of Sudafed 12-hour capsules that have been pulled from retail stores in the Tacoma-Olympia area, and has found no further evidence of tampering.

“Also, no further incidents have been reported from around the country,” said Jeff Nesbit, a spokesman for the FDA.

Dean Owen, a spokesman for the Washington state department of health, said he had dispatched about 60 people to visit 2,000 sites in the three-county area where the victims lived to ensure that all Sudafed capsules have been pulled from the shelves.

“There are some ‘mom and pop’ places that may not have gotten the word through news reports” about the recall, he said.

Meanwhile, the agencies were also awaiting test results on the one suspicious capsule found by a Tacoma woman. The capsule, found in a blister pack with a lot number identical to those containing capsules taken by the victims, was being analyzed by the FBI to determine if it contained cyanide.

Also, the FDA said it had received further confirmation of cyanide poisoning in the death of one of the victims, a man from Lacy, Wash. After his death, his body had been cremated and his organs removed for donation. Nesbit said, however, that they had been able to obtain blood samples, which had proved positive for cyanide poisoning.

Evidence of cyanide poisoning had already been found in the body fluids of two of the victims, one of them a woman who survived after her stomach was pumped.

All three had taken Sudafed. Two of the victims collapsed within 10 minutes of taking the product.

Burroughs Wellcome, the manufacturer of Sudafed, announced a nationwide recall of the product Sunday. The incidents were confined to the Tacoma-Olympia area.