EPA Bans CFC-Based Asthma Inhalers

bonch writes "The EPA has banned over-the-counter asthma inhalers as part of an agreement with other nations to avoid using chlorofluorocarbons, a substance once used in aerosol sprays. Alternative albuterol inhalers cost almost three times as much as the $20 epinephrine inhalers sold by online retailers."

Comments

Make up your damn minds!

[BitHive]

From TFA:

The action is part of an agreement signed by the U.S. and other nations to stop using substances that deplete the ozone layer, a region in the atmosphere that helps block harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun.

So now that global warming has been exposed as a fraud we're supposed to be scared of the Sun as well? Leave it to tree huggers to care more about ozone, which is poisonous, than human life.

I don't know about you but I'm perfectly capable of purchasing sunscreen. For the amount of money I'd save with the tried-and-true inhalers I could probably buy enough sunscreen to protect myself from this so-called "ultraviolet" light for a decade or more.

I am continually amazed that people want the government to pass laws in the name of environmental protection -- if someone is polluting your air or water you don't need to call the EPA, you should be exercising your individual property rights the way our founding fathers intended.

Re:only if

[publiclurker]

It might surprise you to know that they have banned a number of other things that use CFC's, hence the repair of the ozone layer. that doesn't mean that other people should be allowed to continue to spew it out, no matter how self-entitled they may feel they are.

Re:Quantitative? I'll take a shot at it.

[PopeRatzo]

No you asshole. They use propellant because when you're having a fucking asthma attack, you can't generate enough negative pressure with your lungs to properly atomize the medicine!

You haven't seen the propellant-free finger-triggered atomizers? They've been around for oh, 150 years. Considering the particulate that's being delivered to the back of the throat, and the new micro-encapsulating manufacturing processes, I doubt that the medicine needs to be applied with any force whatever. The same medicine can (and often is) used in liquid form or even with a cutaneous application.

And there have been safe CFC-free propellants available for many years for asthmatics without fingers. But inhalers are probably the worst treatment for asthma around. As long as they're profitable, though, they will be widely used.

The inhaler bronchodilators are pushed because they are very expensive and require constant prescription refilling or over-the-counter buying. They are not even very effective. If they're used more than a few times there's a good chance they're making the asthma worse. There are plenty of better medications available. None of the drug approaches to asthma actually cure it, though. There are however lifestyle changes that have been shown to effectively cure it (eliminating the environmental triggers in the home, for example - see Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America), and even relaxation techniques that are a lot more effective than inhalers once learned. But since those can't be patented, well, you know...