The Food and Drug Administration Warns Consumers to Stop Using Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal Products

Associated Press is reporting that the Food And Drug Administration is recommending consumers stop using Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal products immediately due to complaints about a permanent loss of sense of smell.

The Food and Drug Administration says there have been at least 130 reported cases of people experiencing loss of sense of smell since 1999 after using Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal products. So far, the Food and Drug Administration is not applying this warning to other Zicam products like chewable tablets and rapid melts.

The Food and Drug Administration says the active ingredient in Zicam Nasal products, zinc, could be adversely affecting the cranial nerves that are responsible for sense of smell. According to Associated Press, the company that makes Zicam products, Matrixx Initiatives, is involved in a number of lawsuits regarding their products.

I placed a call to Zicam customer service to inquire, as a consumer, what I should do regarding this recent warning by the Food and Drug Administration regarding Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal products. The customer service representative told me that their company is still awaiting word from corporate office as to what should be done regarding this warning. The representative also said that it would not hurt to suspend use of this product until more information is gathered regarding the claims of loss of sense of smell.

Some of the potential results that could arise from the Food and Drug Administration's warning include: issuing a new warning on the Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal products boxes or a full product recall. Again, the makers of Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal products are awaiting official word from corporate officials as to what the next step should be.

I did ask the customer service representative if the Zicam Cold Remedy Chewable Tablets were part of this warning just for my own peace of mind. I am recently getting over a cold and took Zicam Cold Remedy Chewable Tablets for two days. The representative said the Zicam Cold Remedy Chewable Tablets were not, at this point, part of the Food and Drug Administration's stop usage warning. For the record, I did not experience and adverse affects using Zicam Cold Remedy Chewable Tablets and they did reduce they severity of my cold.

If you are concerned about the Food and Drug Administration's Zicam Cold Remedy Nasal products warning, contact customer service at 1-877-942-2626 for the latest news. You can leave your name and phone number with a representative and you should be contacted as soon as more information is known about this warning. Consult the FDA website for more information on their findings at:
http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm167065.htm

Sources:

The Associated Press
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iqOZLMhWX_xiMmRVVVoMTp47QJqgD98RRS9G3

Zicam Customer Service 1-877-942-2626

www.zicam.com