Health

Asthma Inhalers in US Must go "Green" by 2009

by Terri Potratz | December 1, 2008 at 01:20 pm

332 views | 23 Recommendations | 4 comments

All asthma inhalers in the US must use hydroflouroalkane (HFA), a "greener" and more earth-friendly chemical compared to the old chemical, chloroflourocarbon (CFC) which damages the earth's ozone layer. Old inhalers will not be available after December 31, 2008.

The new inhalers, while better for the environment, aren't so easy on the pocketbook - priced significantly higher than the old inhalers between $30 and $60, compared to $5 or $10 for the CFC puffers.

Patients and parents of asthmatic children are incredibly confused about the efficacy of this new product, and why the change is taking place to begin with:

And patients face a learning curve. HFA inhalers must be used differently than the old-fashioned kind. The medicine feels and tastes different, sometimes alarming new users despite doctors' assurances that it works just as well.

"There's still significant confusion," says Dr. Harvey Leo of the University of Michigan's C.S. Mott Children's Hospital. "Patients will tell you, 'I don't feel the puff anymore.'"

Calls from parents unsure how to use the new inhalers, or even what they are, have increased in the past two months as more drugstores run out of CFC-powered inhalers and automatically switch people who'd been expecting a mere refill, he adds.

The FDA has warned for years that the change was coming, but many asthma patients do not see a physician regularly and thus may not have heard of the impending switch.

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Christina 123

at 13:58 on December 1st, 2008

My doctor has started prescribng me the cheapest brand. (Doesn't last five minutes).

anoniab (not verified)

at 16:35 on December 1st, 2008

(with sarcasm) I'm just sure all those tiny rescue inhalers used so infrequently do a vast amount of damage to the atmosphere. I would suggest the following solution for the global warming crisis: Al Gore and all rabid environmentalists like him should hold their breath:)

(without sarcasm) This is what is going to happen to your energy bill when President elect Obama puts his cap and trade policy into effect. Isn't it time we take back our lives from the lunatics running the asylum?