Posted on 09/23/2011 9:28:10 PM PDT by neverdem
Remember how Obama recently waived new ozone regulations at the EPA because they were too costly? Well, it seems that the Obama administration would rather make people with Asthma cough up money than let them make a surely inconsequential contribution to depleting the ozone layer:
Asthma patients who rely on over-the-counter inhalers will need to switch to prescription-only alternatives as part of the federal government's latest attempt to protect the Earth's atmosphere.
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday patients who use the epinephrine inhalers to treat mild asthma will need to switch by Dec. 31 to other types that do not contain chlorofluorocarbons, an aerosol substance once found in a variety of spray products.
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.
But the switch to a greener inhaler will cost consumers more. Epinephrine inhalers are available via online retailers for around $20, whereas the alternatives, which contain the drug albuterol, range from $30 to $60.
The Atlantic's Megan McArdle, an asthma sufferer, noted a while back that when consumers are forced to use environmentally friendly products they are almost always worse:
Er, industry also knew how to make low-flow toilets, which is why every toilet in my recently renovated rental house clogs at least once a week. They knew how to make more energy efficient dryers, which is why even on high, I have to run every load through the dryer in said house twice. And they knew how to make inexpensive compact flourescent bulbs, which is why my head hurts from the glare emitting from my bedroom lamp. They also knew how to make asthma inhalers without CFCs, which is why I am hoarding old albuterol inhalers that, unlike the new ones, a) significantly improve my breathing and b) do not make me gag. Etc.
Well, tough cookies asthma sufferers! You should have written bigger checks to the Democratic party while you had the chance.
His Omnipotence's polices aside, I think epinephrine based inhalers are a public health menace. People think they can manage their own asthma with a drug that provides no long term relief and wind up getting in big trouble, many die. These OTC inhalers are so old school it is ridiculous.
I know those here who have a conspiracy theory regarding the drug industry will protest, but I say good riddance. My asthma patients are on albuterol for short term, acute management and when they cross a well established threshold I put on other drugs that decrease the underlying need for inhalers.
This isnt Obama’s fault. This is Reagan’s. This is a result of the Montreal Treaty which Reagan signed and hailed as a “monumental achievment”
Wow, So true!!
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