Retcon Retcon , also known by the name of the pill that contained it , the amnesia pill , and occasionally by its more precise name , Compound B67 , induced amnesia in anyone that took it . ( TV : " They Keep Killing Suzie " ) It was used by Torchwood 3 to keep its operations secret from civilians . ( TV : " Everything Changes " et al ) Effects . A side - effect of the pill was induced unconsciousness , though it took a while for this to occur . ( TV : " Everything Changes " ) Retcon appeared capable of erasing selective memories , or implanting false memories . When given to the party following alien disruption of the wedding of Gwen Cooper and Rhys Williams , it did not result in a large group of people forgetting that Gwen and Rhys were married . However , Jack said it was LV 6 Retcon , implying different levels of retcon invoked a different effect . ( TV : " Something Borrowed " ) In particular , Level 6 Retcon had a peculiar effect if mixed with champagne , causing a brief boost in activity before inducing sleep . Retcon could erase memories , but didn ' t remove any other physiological effects ; for example , retcon could remove the memory of taking a drug , but had no effect on the addiction , causing an addiction without an obvious reason . ( PROSE : " Kaleidoscope " ) It was possible to regain memories , and people were still capable of experiencing deja vu as when Gwen Cooper knew she had seen Suzie Costello somewhere before but only remembered the details after Suzie committed suicide . ( TV : " Everything Changes " ) Overdose and abuse . Normally , a Retcon pill was meant for a single use to take care of an isolated incident that could compromise Torchwood ' s secrecy . Retcon was not designed to be used to regularly wipe the memory of an individual , or tamper with the psyche of a mindwiped individual by imparting a multitude of subliminal commands . Doing so could inflict severe psychological damage to a person ' s mind and drive them insane , or " reprogram " them into subconsciously doing the drugger ' s bidding . Such manic behaviour was forcibly invoked by Suzie Costello , when her attitudes towards Torchwood began to sour dramatically . She confided her experiences with the institute in Max Tresilian , a member of Pilgrim , a discussion group she had joined . Suzie was trying to rescue her sanity after bottling up the unpleasant nature of her job . However , she would resort to giving Max weekly doses of Retcon pills following each exposure of confidential information , which lasted over the course of two years . Inevitably , Suzie ' s hatred for her job peaked and led her to turn Max into a Trojan Horse that would let Suzie wreak vengeance on Torchwood posthumously if she had died , which would come to pass when she took her own life after she was exposed as a murderer . ( TV : " Everything Changes " ) . Furthermore , it set in motion a convoluted scheme to resurrect herself and fully liberate her from the institute if she did indeed die . ( TV : " They Keep Killing Suzie " ) History . Jack Harkness gave retcon to Gwen Cooper when they first met , but she later regained her memories . ( TV : " Everything Changes " ) Gwen gave retcon to Rhys Williams after confessing her affair with Owen Harper . ( TV : " Combat " ) Suzie Costello gave retcon to Max Tresilian once a week for two years . ( TV : " They Keep Killing Suzie " ) Torchwood gave retcon to Danny Dillard to remove his memories of the Rehabilitator . He retained his addiction to it and turned to drugs to try to relive it . ( PROSE : " Kaleidoscope " ) Jack Harkness told Gwen to give Rhys retcon after he learned about Torchwood , but she refused . ( TV : " Meat " ) The members of Torchwood 3 took retcon to forget Adam Smith , killing him . ( TV : " Adam " ) Torchwood 3 gave retcon to the guests at Gwen and Rhys ' wedding . Rhys and Gwen were also offered the pills , but chose not to take them . ( TV : " Something Borrowed " ) Idris Hopper took two retcon tablets to forget about Jack , Torchwood and the Ninth Doctor . ( PROSE : " The Twilight Streets " ) Jack Harkness gave the drug to Esther Drummond so that she would forget what she had learned about Torchwood when they met . ( TV : " The New World " ) Jack forced a man who was watching Gwen ' s house to take retcon , so that he would forget that he saw Jack . ( TV : " The Gathering " ) Ashildr used retcon during the early 21st century . She used it to wipe Rigsy ' s mind to hide the location of the trap street . ( TV : " Face the Raven " ) Similar materials . Irving Braxiatel had access to a similar drug which caused a person ( particularly a human ) to lose the last twenty - four hours of their memory . ( PROSE : " The Empire of Glass " ) The U . S . military possessed retcon gas , but it often caused subjects to go insane . ( TV : " Dreamland " ) The Families used a gaseous form of retcon on Gwen Cooper and Jack Harkness in Chernobyl . ( TV : " Web of Lies " ) Behind the scenes . " " stands for " Ret " roactive " Con " tinuity and has been used for some time , mainly in relation to role - playing games and comics . It refers to changing events from the past in order to make them fit with the current storyline .