September 29 Birthday
On September 29, 1982, seven people in the Chicago area died after taking Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules that had been laced with cyanide. The poisonings were random — the killer had placed contaminated capsules on store shelves. Johnson & Johnson recalled 31 million bottles of Tylenol, at a cost of $100 million. The company redesigned packaging with tamper-evident seals, which became standard for all over-the-counter medications. The killer was never caught. The incident transformed consumer product safety and led to federal anti-tampering laws. Jerry Lee Lewis, born this day in 1935, was one of the founders of rock and roll. "Great Balls of Fire" and "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" were recorded in 1957 when he was twenty-two. In 1958, he married his thirteen-year-old cousin, Myra Gale Brown. The public was outraged, and his career collapsed overnight. He was blacklisted from radio. He reinvented himself as a country artist in the 1960s and had a second career. People born on September 29 fall under the zodiac sign of Libra. The birthstone is Sapphire and the birth flower is Aster. Historical events on September 29 include 1982: Tylenol poisonings in Chicago kill seven, revolutionizing packaging, 1789: US Army established by Congress, 1979: Pope John Paul II becomes first pope to visit Ireland. Famous people born on September 29 include Gene Autry (1907), Michelangelo Antonioni (1912), Jerry Lee Lewis (1935).