Walgreen Pulls Encaprin After Tampering Warning

Walgreen Co. has removed Encaprin, a nonprescription painkiller, from its shelves nationwide following an anonymous warning the drug was laced with cyanide, a company spokesman said today.

There were no reports of actual tampering, the spokesman said. Also, the caller named an Encaprin lot number that does not exist and said the capsules had been tainted in Detroit area Walgreen stores, where the drugstore chain does not operate, company officials said.

The anonymous call was made to the corporate offices of the Cincinnati-based Procter & Gamble Co., which makes the painkiller, said Bob Norrish, director of public relations at Procter & Gamble.

“The caller gave us a lot number and we don’t have such a number on the brand,” Norrish said. “We have not found any products that have been tampered with.”

Walgreen employees pulled the aspirin substitute from its 1,170 stores after the removal was ordered over the company’s computer system, the spokesman said.

“We don’t know if it was a crank call or what,” said Tom Mammoser, director of Walgreen’s corporate communications. “But it doesn’t take much to get the wheels started these days.”