Zicam blamers sniffed it up their noses and felt the burn

Here's a retrospective study supporting my theory that zinc doesn't damage your sense of smell unless you snort the gel back into the olfactory-receptor-laden part of your nasal mucosa. I plan to keep using it, if needed, to head off a cold. I have several tubes. The NY Times reported that you can return it to the manufacturer for a refund. I'll be interested to see if any of the anosmic people will attempt to sue the company. If they had followed the instructions they would not have had trouble, but can you hold the customer accountable for reading the instructions? There was no warning on the package about this particular hazard.

All patients diagnosed with zinc-induced anosmia or hyposmia reported sniffing deeply when applying the gel. This was followed by an immediate sensation of burning lasting minutes to hours. Loss of sense of smell was then perceived within 48 hours.


http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16467707
( study abstract behind cut )