Product Liability Lawyers: Poligrip Lawsuits

PHILADELPHIA (CBS 3) March 8, 2010 ― The woman knew something was wrong with her, but she didn't know what until she heard reports that people were having similar problems.

So she went to a doctor who confirmed she had zinc poisoning.

At 44-years-old, Diann Jones is disabled.

"I never thought I would be crippled at this age," Diann told Eyewitness News.

Diann says her neurological problems trace back to using Super Poligrip every day for eight years.

"It's a horrible feeling. I fall asleep every night praying that I'll get better, but I don't think I will," Diann said.

Super Poligrip has zinc in it used as an adhesive. But that zinc Diann says poisoned her, causing her to walk with a walker. She says her hand became crippled and she has sharp pain running down her legs.

"Sometimes I just want to throw in the towel and say 'I'm not going to do any more treatments,' but I can't do that, I have to fight," Diann said.

Diann is fighting the maker of Poligrip, GlaxoSmithKline, in court. Diann and her attorney Tom Kline have filed a lawsuit.

"What she thought was nothing more than an over-the-counter product, something that she was adhering her dentures with. When the fact of the matter is, it was something that contained a dangerous chemical," Kline said.

GlaxoSmithKline stopped making Super Poligrip in February.

"They never warned the consumer that this could cause zinc poisoning," Kline said.

GlaxoSmithKline told Eyewitness News they have received 400 reports in the United States of consumers with neurological symptoms. "The product remains safe when used as directed ... but because we have become aware that people have been using it to excess that we've decided to stop selling the product and we're going replace it with zinc free alternatives," GlaxoSmithKline chief medical officer Dr. Howard Marsh told Eyewitness News by phone.

The Super Poligrip product was never recalled in the United States, but it was recalled in Japan.

GlaxoSmithKline made a zinc free formula and has more zinc free adhesives currently in production.