 We've been tricked into buying useless cold medicine, at least since 2006. That's when the FDA said the ingredient that made cold medicine actually work couldn't be sold over the counter. So drug companies put this one in its place. Now people have been suspicious for years about its efficacy, but recently a committee of experts voted unanimously that it's completely ineffective. So what happens now? Essentially nothing, at least not until the FDA officially decides that manufacturers have to pull them from the market, which could take a while. In the meantime, if you need decongestion medicine that's actually effective, you can find it behind the pharmacy counter.