In the January issue of MHM, we broke the news of a massive recall of over-the-counter drugs made by McNeil Consumer Healthcare, one of Johnson & Johnson’s 250 subsidiaries.

It started with Tylenol Arthritis caplets but has since expanded to include Motrin, Rolaids and many other types of Tylenol-branded medications. The full list of recalled drugs is 14 pages long.

After our January issue hit the street, the FDA turned up the heat by sending an official warning to Peter Luther, president of McNeil Consumer Healthcare’s North American over-the-counter business. In the letter, the FDA blasts McNeil, saying it “did not conduct a timely, comprehensive investigation” of the complaints and committed “significant violations of the current good manufacturing practice (CGMP) regulations for finished pharmaceuticals.”

Nevertheless, McNeil stands behind its original statement that the odor comes from a chemical used to treat the wood pallets that transported its product. The company also assures consumers that it is taking further actions, including “ceasing shipment of products produced using materials shipped on these wood pallets and requiring suppliers who ship materials to our plants to discontinue the use of these pallets.”

Good idea, McNeil, but you’re a little late.

The FDA claims McNeil received consumer complaints of a moldy or musty odor coming from its products back in 2008, but the drug company shrugged them off as isolated incidents. And, the FDA inspected the company’s manufacturing plant in Puerto Rico and found serious quality-control problems.

In his blog, Marc Monseau, director of corporate communications and social media at Johnson & Johnson, says McNeil conducted a microbiological investigation back in 2008 and found no bacteria or mold, leading the company to conclude that the complaints were just flukes. In 2009, Monseau writes, the company got more complaints, so it decided to investigate further. That’s when the 2,4,6-tribromoanisole (TBA) was found.

I don’t know about you, but Monseau’s words do nothing to settle my stomach. Why didn’t McNeil conduct a comprehensive investigation when it first received complaints in 2008? The company should have looked for chemical contamination—not just bacteria and mold—in the first place.

Now, the company has opened a Pandora’s box of chaos and conflict in the material handling community.

This week, plastic pallet supplier iGPS fired off a statement warning of the “dangers of wood pallets.” Tests commissioned by iGPS revealed the presence of bacteria and “life-threatening pathogens” in wood pallets, according to the release.

CHEP, a provider of wood and plastic pallet pooling services, posted a special memo on its Web site assuring customers that its pallets are safe. Jim Ritchie, president of CHEP USA and Kevin Shuba, president of CHEP Americas, highlighted the company’s strict quality-control procedures and its use of kiln drying (not chemical preservatives or fumigation) to control infestation and mold growth.

Meanwhile, the National Wooden Pallet and Container Association (NWPCA) is fighting mad. In a recent letter to Johnson & Johnson CEO William Welson, Bruce Scholnick, NWPCA’s president, stated that McNeil’s “highly irresponsible and defamatory statements” have inflicted “immense damage” on the wood pallet industry and its business relationships.

Scholnick demanded “definitive evidence that the source of the contamination was TBA” as well as “technical and scientific theory as to how this chemical could spread from a tertiary packaging component to a primary packaging component through various layers of cardboard and plastic packaging surrounding the primary product.” If Johnson & Johnson fails to deliver this evidence, NWPCA says it will demand a retraction and then pursue damages.

To ease concerns of wood pallet users and suppliers, the NWPCA posted a fact sheet about the recalls on its Web site.

NWPCA also fired away at the plastic pallet industry by posting this video showing a Maine legislator introducing a bill to ban deca-bromine (reportedly used in plastic pallets):

In my humble opinion, the blame for all of this falls on the brand owner, and that’s McNeil and ultimately Johnson & Johnson. As the FDA put it in its warning letter, “Corporate management has the responsibility to ensure the quality, safety and integrity of its products.”

I realize that nobody’s perfect. But if you’re distributing products that will be swallowed by millions of men, women and children in 57 countries, you’d better be darn close. Accountability is a tough pill to swallow, but with great power comes great responsibility.

On January 22, Bernie Knill, former chief editor of Material Handling Management, passed away after a brief illness. Bernie’s impact–not only on MHM but on the entire material handling community–is legendary, and it promises to live on for years to come.

Bernie began working for MHM in 1957 and continued to lead the magazine until he retired in 2000. However, even in retirement, Bernie remained active as a regular contributor to MHM.

All of Bernie’s successors (myself included) have learned from his uncommon passion, extraordinary talent and desire to make a difference in his industry. It’s extremely humbling to get the opportunity to oversee the same magazine that was so near and dear to Bernie’s heart.

But I didn’t know Bernie as well as many others did. I knew his reputation and his legacy, but I (unfortunately) never had the chance to get to know him personally and professionally. That’s why I believe a proper tribute can only be given by someone who worked closely with Bernie and had the opportunity to witness his passion coming to life each day.

In 1980, Bernie hired his eventual successor, Tom Andel, as assistant editor for Material Handling Engineering (now Material Handling Management). Tom later worked on other publications, but returned to MHE in 1998 as senior editor under Bernie. In 2000, Tom was promoted to chief editor of the newly named Material Handling Management upon Bernie’s retirement.

Tom has been covering material handling, transportation, distribution, manufacturing and supply chain management ever since. He is currently a columnist and blogger for Modern Materials Handling and a contributor to Logistics Management.

So, without further ado, I give the floor to Tom. These are his words:

“Bernie Knill played the typewriter like Mozart played a piano. Both composed masterpieces in their heads and both were the rock stars of their day. From the 1950s until the turn of the 21st century, Bernie rocked material handling, raising the seemingly mundane to high relevance for the readers of this magazine.

–When a software snafu crashed the newly built Denver International Airport’s baggage handling system, Bernie’s award-winning report to MHM readers extracted important lessons from the wreckage.

–When power-hungry state elevator inspectors coveted a piece of the material handling industry’s vertical reciprocating conveyor business, Bernie’s ten-year editorial onslaught made opera out of the ongoing bureaucratic melodrama. He became the voice of the material handling industry on the elevator issue, and those inspectors eventually cleaned up their acts. This freed VRC manufacturers from fighting this battle and enabled them to be strong enough for trade association representation under the Material Handling Industry of America’s banner.

–When lift truck operator training was a sometimes thing in workplaces across the country, Bernie worked with leaders in industry and government to spread the gospel about equipment-specific and site-specific powered industrial truck operator training. From that came OSHA’s PITOT standard, 29 CFR 190.178—and much safer workplaces.

In 1992, the Material Handling Industry honored Bernie for all these efforts with the Reed-Apple Award, the industry’s highest honor. That same year, the Material Handling Management Society presented him with the William T. Shirk Award for outstanding service and contributions to the industry.

Bernie Knill retired as MHM’s editorial leader in 2000, but he stayed active as a freelance journalist until health issues forced him to take it easier in recent years.

He leaves a legacy as a leader, a teacher, an artist and a mentor. Younger readers of this magazine may not know his name, but they’ll benefit from the results of his work. Those of us lucky enough to know all of those manifestations of Bernie will continue to pay his example forward.”

–Tom Andel, Bernie Knill successor