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FDA Says Homeopathic Cure Can Cause Loss of Smell
Hugh Pickens writes "The FDA has advised consumers to stop using Matrixx Initiatives' Zicam Cold Remedy nasal gel marketed over-the-counter as a cold remedy because it is associated with the loss of sense of smell (anosmia) that may be long-lasting or permanent. The FDA says about 130 consumers have reported a loss of smell after using the homeopathic cure containing zinc, an ingredient scientists say may damage nerves in the nose needed for smell and health officials say they have asked Matrixx executives to turn over more than 800 consumer complaints concerning lost smell that the company has on file. 'Loss of the sense of smell is potentially life-threatening and may be permanent,' said Dr. Charles Lee. 'People without the sense of smell may not be able to detect life-dangerous situations, such as gas leaks or something burning in the house.' The FDA said the remedy was never formally approved because it is part of a small group of remedies known as homeopathic products that are not required to undergo federal review before launching. The global market for homeopathic drugs is about $200 million per year, according to the American Association of Homeopathic Pharmacists. Matrixx has settled hundreds of lawsuits connected with Zicam in recent years, but says it 'will seek a meeting with the FDA to vigorously defend its scientific data, developed during more than 10 years of experience with the products, demonstrating their safety.'"
This product needs to be removed from the market. I'd like to see stricter controls on things like this. Anything that attempts to cure or prevent disease needs to be evaluated and tested by the FDA. All supplements, vitamins, these cold prevention products should all have to shown to be safe and do what they claim BEFORE they can be sold.
If you build it, nerds will come. Soylentnews.org
One thing you can be sure of is that a kid with these all problems sure plays a mean pinball.
Show me on the doll where his noodly appendage touched you.
This is loophole that needs to be filled. a detailed discussion why is here
The plural of anecdote is not data.
Even if you for some reason choose to ignore the science known as chemistry, data acquired in a good manner shows that homeopathic "medicines" have no more effect than a placebo. It most definitely does not work.
Being a "skeptic" achieves not being fooled into taking placebos instead of proper drugs, which can save your life in many cases.
Infinite time means everything that can happen, will. You being you is absolutely incidental. You do not exist.
If you want to convince us that homeopathic medicines work, than by all means, put one of them through a rigorous, controlled clinical trial. (Not one anecdotal bit that may or may not be true and if it is may or may not be coincidental.) Tell one group they're getting the homeopathic "medicine" and give that to them. Tell the other group that's what they're getting and give them a placebo. Compare the results. That's how accurate results are obtained about the effectiveness of an actual drug against the placebo effect.
If you find significantly better results in the side that took the "medicine" than in those who took the placebo, and those results prove to be repeatable, you may have yourself a case. But until someone is confident enough in the method to submit it to rigorous, controlled testing, rather than "It worked this time! Really! Don't be so closed minded!", it's just quackery preying on the gullible.
When proponents of something are quick to tout its benefits and quick to ridicule its critics, but even quicker to duck rigorous testing that would show for sure if it really works or not, I become very closed minded very quickly. I've never taken Zicam, so apparently I can still smell bullshit just fine. If you're that confident in it, put it up for FDA approval.
To fight the war on terror, stop being afraid.
placebos should be preferred as they dont have side effects.
I'm pretty sure this is incorrect. Granted, they're not very harmful, but you could easily experience things like dry mouth, headaches, muscle aches, etc. Remember, your body is reacting as though it received medicine. If someone gives you a placebo and tells you it's a cold remedy, you will probably experience the same side effects you experience with Sudafed.
The prescribing doctor is the cause of the side effects: "Be sure to take these pills with lots of water and maybe a cracker or two, they're really powerful and give some people a bit of nausea."
It's the sales job that makes placebos work, and part of convincing people that it's effective is to add that "powerful" tag. And nobody would believe a perfect pill with no side effects exists, or we'd all be taking them every day.
John
Homeopathy is the molecular analog to astrology.
Half of my words are lies. Neither you, nor I, nor anyone else, can tell which.
Not only that but I remember reading a study on the effect years ago(maybe someone can find a link? My Search Fu does suck) where they gave those in pain morphine for several days and then either gave them a placebo with JUST water, or one with water and a morphine blocker. Now since the morphine was already out of their system the morphine blocker should have had NO effect at all, yet those that were given the placebo without a morphine blocker experienced a reducing of pain while those given the morphine blocker experienced an INCREASE in pain.
They tried these experiments with several other drugs and the results were the same. We really don't know WTF is going on when it comes to the human brain, not really. IMHO the placebo effect shows that we can never know with 100% certainty what a drug is going to do, becase the human brain can skew the outcome one way or another. That is why research on the brain and the electro-chemical reactions is so important. We really need to understand how the entire machine works to design effective drugs.
ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
Randomized controlled trials is the only way to tell if it "*really* works". Anecdotes are worthless in evaluating (alleged) cures. For every useless substance there is, you *will* find users who "used to be skeptics" but now "swear by them", falsely convinced they "*really* work". Because of post hoc ergo propter hoc, spontaneous remission, false diagnosis, placebo effect, confirmation bias and a slew of other fallacies.
Evangelists like yourself and peers with poorly developed critical thinking skills (ie. most humans) are the exact reason these "cures" are still around - despite having no biological plausibility and negative RCT results against them.
(founded 95,000,000 yrs ago, very space opera)