Tylenol, an over-the-counter pain medication, will be adding new warning labels to its bottles.

Labels that read "CONTAINS ACETAMINOPHEN" and "ALWAYS READ THE LABEL" will soon be added to bottles of Tylenol sold in the United States.

"We're always looking for ways to better communicate information to patients and consumers," Dr. Edwin Kuffner, vice president of McNeil Consumer Healthcare, the Johnson & Johnson unit that makes Tylenol, said.

Labels will appear on Extra Strength Tylenol bottles starting in Oct. The warnings will appear on the caps of all other versions of Tylenol in the subsequent months.

The move was made as an attempt to control the large number of lawsuits that have brought against Johnson & Johnson, the company that makes Tylenol.

Today, Tylenol has more than 85 lawsuits against it in federal court. The lawsuits claim that Tylenol caused the defendants liver injury and death.

Tylenol is taken by millions every day and the federal government has recently been pressuring Johnson & Johnson to handle its effects on the American people.

In addition to Tylenol, acetaminophen is found in over 600 over-the-counter and prescription drugs and is used by one in four adults every day. This includes Nyquil, Excedrin and Sudafed. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 55,000 to 80,000 Americans go to the emergency room due to acetaminophen overdose every year, and at least 500 die.

Tylenol, however, is the first to implement a warning label on its bottle. According to McNeil, this is a result of Tylenol's research on consumer misuse.

Still, experts say that Tylenol is safe when one takes no more than eight pills in one day. According to Information Resources Inc., over-the-counter medicines with acetaminophen sold more than $1.75 billion last year.

The FDA is currently drafting safety proposals that will have the power to curtail acetaminophen products like Tylenol.

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