On October 18, 2010, McNeil Consumer Healthcare/Johnson & Johnson initiated their sixth recall of 2010, recalling one lot of Tylenol 8 Hour caplets, due to numerous complaints of a musty or moldy odor, which is causing consumers to suffer from cases of nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.

The musty or moldy odor emitting from the Tylenol 8 Hour tablets stems from 2,4,6-tribromoanisole, which is a chemical contaminant that seeped into the empty Tylenol 8 Hour medicine bottles. According to the Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry, 2,4,6-tribromoanisole is an environmental contaminant that was most likely produced from 2,4,6-tribromophenol (TBP) by microbial activity. TBP is used as a fungicide and a wood preservative which is used in wooden pallets involved in the storage and transportation of the product at McNeil’s Las Piedras facility in Puerto Rico.

According to the FDA, consumers who have purchased Tylenol 8 Hour Caplets from lot # BCM155 should stop using the product immediately.