The New York Times (7/26, D6, Rabin) reports “a new analysis has concluded that controversial zinc nasal gel products can cause some patients to lose their sense of smell,” according to a study in the Archives of Otolaryngology – Head & Neck Surgery. There is no danger “from taking zinc gluconate orally” but that “when sniffed through the nose it can burn olfactory tissue.” The FDA “last year warned consumers to stop using Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Gel and Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Swabs,” popular “homeopathic remedies that contain zinc.” Arizona-based Matrixx Initiatives, which markets them, “has denied the zinc gels cause anosmia and called the conclusions ‘scientifically unfounded and misleading.’”
It seems to me that we all should heed the FDA warning. As with any drug, do not take the zinc gels without first speaking with your doctor.
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Mr. Zambri is a Board-Certified Civil Trial Attorney and Past-President of the Trial Lawyers Association of Metropolitan Washington, D.C. He has been acknowledged by Washingtonian magazine as a “Big Gun” and among the “top 1%” of all of the more than 80,000 lawyers in the Washington metropolitan area. The magazine also acknowledged him as “one of Washington’s best–most honest and effective lawyers” who specializes in medical malpractice matters, product liability claims, and serious automobile accident claims. Mr. Zambri has also been repeatedly named a “Super Lawyer” by Law and Politics magazine (2010)–a national publication that honors the top lawyers in America.
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