List of medicine contamination incidents

In

• 1937
  Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.^[2][3]
• 1942,
  Nose droppers were found to be contaminated by users to the detriment of subsequent users. Bacterial growth was found in all ephedrine and neosynephrin solutions that were examined.^[4]
• 1970s – 1985 Treatments for hemophilia derived from human blood were contaminated with HIV and hepatitis C and infected over 10,000 patients worldwide. The manufacturers of the affected products became aware of the contamination but continued to sell it. After the contaminated products were banned in many developed countries, sales were shifted to developing markets.
• 1982 Chicago Tylenol murders: Tylenol pain-relief capsules were laced with potassium cyanide, leading to seven deaths.^[5]
• 2007 Panamanian
  mom and pop stores, dollar stores, and discount stores in at least four states.^[13] In July 2007, diethylene glycol was found in counterfeit Sensodyne toothpaste, on sale at a car boot sale in Derbyshire, England.^[14]
• 2007
  glycerine, to make cough syrup.^[15]
• 2008 Chinese heparin adulteration^[16][17]
• 2009, 84 Nigerian children were reported to have died after being given "My Pikin", a teething syrup contaminated with diethylene glycol.^[18]
• 2012: As of 2 November 2012^[update] in the New England Compounding Center meningitis outbreak, 753 cases of fungal infection occurred with 64 deaths due to contaminated injectable medication.
• 2012: 2012 Pakistan fake medicine crisis
• 2017: medical cannabis in California found to contain dangerous bacteria and fungi, causing at least one fatality.^[19]
• 2012 – 2018: From 2012 to 2018 massive amounts of generic versions of an entire class of angiotensin II inhibitor blood pressure medications (collectively called "sartans") were made with contaminated ingredients. Patients receiving these drugs were exposed to genotoxic and carcinogenic N-nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA) and N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA) from 2012 until the drugs were recalled from the world drug market in 2018. The problem began in 2012, when the process for making
  N-nitrosodiethylamine (NDEA), which cause genetic damage and cancer.^[20] This contamination was not detected until 2018. The incident, according to medicinal chemist and pharmaceutical industry blogger Dr. Derek Lowe, points to a greater problem. Generic drug manufacturers often change the way in which prescription drug ingredients are made in order to lower costs of making them, so this kind of contamination may be more widespread and undetected in generic drugs.^[21]
• 2022–2023 United States P. aeruginosa outbreak in eye drops

• List of food contamination incidents
• List of foodborne illness outbreaks
• Toxic cough syrup