Zicam! I can't smell anything!!?!

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Actually, all supplements are still overseen and regulated by the FDA... if they weren't, the FDA would have no authority to ban them.
The reason for the loss of smell was actually due to higher levels of Zinc (which can have the effect of loss of smell), but the makers of Zicam have changed most of their formulas (and discontinued some that were too high of a dose for children) since then so it's not as much of a concern (although some are more sensitive than others).

The FDA had a press release over a year ago at http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/P… that outlined the concerns. "Anosmia may be long-lasting or permanent" and "The FDA has received more than 130 reports of loss of sense of smell associated with the use of these three Zicam products" (out of the millions sold as well). It's a problem that seldom occurs now, but if it's happened to you, you should stop using it. Most of the cases were temporary and I believe only a few people had permanent damage (from over use of it from what I read).
Also, according to http://www.fda.gov/Drugs/DrugSafety/Post… there have been no warnings issued since the initial concerns and reformulations in 2009.

I would definitely stop taking the product (and check the date on it as it may be one of the old formulas) and try other products for fighting your cold in the future. Good luck and I hope I helped!


[edit]: Oh, and it's not banned. It's still on the market after the manufacturer reformulated it. It was a voluntary choice after the FDA letter, but the FDA would have made them do that or stop making the product anyway, but it's still not banned. Nitram should do better research before answering questions that he thinks he knows part of the answer to. ;-)

[edit 2]: No, the FDA does have oversight over these and other supplements. They can and have banned or restricted supplement, both including those that didn't hurt people (eg. Red Yeast Rice because of the naturally occurring Lovastatin in it after a drug company patented their Statin drug by the same name and claimed the supplement had their drug in it when it was the other way around) and those that people had reactions to.
Take a look at the FDA's website at http://www.fda.gov/food/dietarysupplemen… to read up on what their regulations are with supplements. "FDA regulates dietary supplements under a different set of regulations than those covering "conventional" foods and drug products (prescription and Over-the-Counter). Under the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA), the dietary supplement manufacturer is responsible for ensuring that a dietary supplement is safe before it is marketed."

By the way... the skeptics always say that Homeopathy doesn't work and has no active ingredients... now you're saying it does harm. So, which is it? Does it not have any ingredients or does it have ingredients that can hurt you? You can't have it both ways.

Health/nutrition classes, personal research in my role as a Product Specialist for a vitamin company (during the Zicam issues so I've answered this question many times), and FDA.gov

That's why the manufacturer was sued. It made a lot of people permanently lose their sense of smell.

Zicam isn't regulated as a drug. The FDA only has authority if it actually hurts someone. They did not review it before it went on the shelves. If they did, it wouldn't have made it. Zicam does not work.

Anyone who says homeopathy is harmless needs to read this stroy.

Edit: Real homeopathy would contain no active ingredient, and is harmless. Zicam used a loophole in the law.

In vitro, large amounts of zinc prevent binding of rhinoviruses. It never worked in vivo. So the company labeled it "homeopathic" since zinc is on the list of approved homeopathics, and sold it anyway. It actually had large amounts of zinc (unlike "real" homeopathy), which destroyed people's olfactory receptors.

They never had to show it worked, just that it wouldn't kill people. Since it didn't go through clinical trials, the sense of smell problem went undetected.

If only the rampant dishonesty of alternative "medicine" got decent news coverage.

Microbiologist

This is where the dangers of unregulated medicine are evident.

This is a "homeopathic" product with one real ingredient. This one ingredient has lead to a $multi-million law suit against the company and it being banned by the FDA. Why? Because it makes people who take it lose their sense of smell. Oh, it's permanent.

This is why you shouldn't take unregulated medicine.

I'm not wrong.

"Actually, all supplements are still overseen and regulated by the FDA"

It wasn't marketed as a supplement, the marketing was "UNAPPROVED HOMEOPATHIC" there is no need to regulate the contents of a homeopathic treatment because they are not supposed to contain anything. The FDA isn't in the business of regulating water as a medicine, it only overseas the production process for safety not the contents because there shouldn't be any.

"if they weren't, the FDA would have no authority to ban them"

Yet they DId ban it as soon as the complaints came in, and then found the company was sitting on a whole bunch more complaints that they had denied receiving.

"It was a voluntary choice after the FDA letter" A voluntary choice of "withdraw it or we'll ban it" is NOT a voluntary choice any more than "resign or get fired" is a voluntary choice about leaving a company.

Yes it was banned
Yes they did pay out multi-million dollar settlements
Yes it did come under regulation as soon as complaints were in and it was found not to be homeopathic
Yes it does cause permanent loss of smell

Their current marketing now says "Daily application of the homeopathic remedy Zicam Allergy Relief significantly improves the quality of life and impairment in patients with seasonal allergic Rhinitis"

Well let's hope it IS a homeopathic product now and that it really contains nothing harmful - which is exactly what it should have contained in the first place. Shame they can't be made to provide the evidence that it really does help shorten colds.

We need a few good old-fashioned hangin's

This is hard work ...

"No, the FDA does have oversight over these and other supplements."

This isn't a supplement it was claimed to be a homeopathic treatment (aka water)

"By the way... the skeptics always say that Homeopathy doesn't work and has no active ingredients"

It's actually the homeopaths who claim it has no active ingredients. This outfit LIED about it being homeopathic and they actually put stuff into it that did something. The only reason for lying was to evade regulation otherwise they would have had to market it as a drug and go though all the testing and trials.

"now you're saying it does harm. So, which is it? Does it not have any ingredients or does it have ingredients that can hurt you? You can't have it both ways."

Noone is having it both ways. If an outfit lies about a product anything can happen. Take it up with them about why they claimed it was UNREGULATED HOMEOPATHIC when it obviously was no such thing.