I moderate two online support groups for folks with anosmia and dysosmia. We have all been convinced for years that spraying zinc salts up one's nose is not a good idea, and many members of these groups claim to have become anosmic as a result of using the products in question. This is not properly classified as homeopathy, however -- that is just a trick to avoid being subject to proper regulation. Homeopathic medications contain no active ingredients, having been diluted so much that it is unlikely that there is even a single molecule of the original substance added to (usually) water -- just the vibes of that substance remain.
When I was in graduate school, long ago, we use zinc salts, intranasally applied, to render rats anosmic. Way back in the 1930 Canadian researchers discovered that zinc salts render humans anosmic. IMHO, possibly getting over a head cold a bit more quickly is not worth the risk of losing one's sense of smell. That loss is more devastating that most people realize. See http://personal.ecu.edu/wuenschk/Zinc.htm . Cheers, Karl W. -----Original Message----- From: Mike Palij [mailto:m...@nyu.edu] Sent: Wednesday, June 17, 2009 8:32 AM To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) Cc: Mike Palij Subject: [tips] How Homeopathy Harms Apropos the recent discussion on TiPS about alternative medicine and giving people the "placebo that they desire", consider the following article from the NY Times on the FDA's warning against the use of the homeopathic cold treatment Zicam because of the number of cases reporting the loss of the ability to smell (anosmia); see: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/17/health/policy/17nasal.html?hp For a skeptical history of homeopathy, see the following: http://www.skepdic.com/homeo.html One good thing that may come from the Zicam situation is that the U.S. Congress may finally give the FDA the ability to force recalls (removal from the market) of those nostrums that are often called supplements but not drugs (removing them from the jurisdiction of the FDA) though their selling point is that they have drug-like effects. -Mike Palij New York University m...@nyu.edu --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly (bsouthe...@frostburg.edu)
