Posted on 09/29/2011 7:11:22 AM PDT by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Asthma inhalers, available over the counter from pharmacies will become prescription-only from 2012.
The move comes as worries over ozone layer damage persist from continued use of chlourofluorocarbons to propel the medicine out of the inhaler.
Primatene Mist, the only inhaler still available from pharmacies without prescription is an epinephrine inhaler that causes airways to relax, helping asthma patients during hard times or breathing difficulty. It is not a preventing medicine, but acutely used when airways constrict.
CFC’s (chlorofluorocarbons) are concerning environmentalists, due to their dangerous depletion of ozone, the layer around the earth protecting us from the sun’s harmful rays.
Currently, there are three inhalers on the market, but government officials have decided that OTC’s are to be removed first – restrictions over prescribed inhalers are due 2013. Primatene, made by Amphastar is currently undergoing a propellant redesign, although it is thought that the new inhaler will not be available before the old is phased out, according to the Wall Street Journal.
There are three million users of Primatene reported in 2006, and the FDA says around one to two million are still in use – though it is hard to say how many are over-the-counter (OTC).
"The clock is ticking on Primatene Mist, the only over-the-counter asthma inhaler," FDA press officer Karen Riley said at a news conference.
More than 235 million people worldwide suffer from asthma and it is the most common chronic disease among children, according to the World Health Organization.
Nanny State PING!
Oh forget it, the sheeple will fall in line.
I don’t know much about asthma and inhalers. Are inhalers something you can stock up on?
Wonder if they will still be available in Canada or Mexico? I can see a black market in inhalers coming. Come to think of it, during Prohibition, a lot of bootleggers got their supplies from those two places so why not inhalers and light bulbs too? Heck, I’m sure there are zillions of places out in the sticks where you can drive a car/SUV into Canada, no one would know. I think when I was a kid, I remember my father telling me a story where a co-worker crossed back and forth into Canada in his 1975 Bonneville a couple of times on a trail in the woods, no one knew.
they do expire after a while. I use Albuterol from my doctor.
I guess that was natural healing and didn't make big pharma
or the gov any cash so they don't like it. lol
Look for hoarding to take place.
Are you serious? The border is so tight you couldn't drive a nail through it with a sledge hammer!
You never want to use Primatene Mist for anything but last resort. But for those of us who find themselves without our albuterol inhaler being able to go around the block to get a Pimatene is a real "safety net". For some it's more than that.
Forget the foolishness of being sucked into the ozone hole thing (see: anthropomorphic global warming) Nanny State should have never considered forcible (coersed) removal of this product without having approved another asthma inhaler for OTC availability.
Dear Lord! I can’t wait for the grown-ups to be back in charge and put a stop to this ongoing insanity!!!
Sitting here wondering idly how many will die just so a few envirowackos can get their self-stroke of the day.
I’ve been stocking up for 6 months now ... time to get some more. Primatene’s the only thing I can use. I’m allergic to albuterol. But the enviromentalists don’t seem to want to take into account that albuterol isn’t the first choice for everyone.
I really wonder how concerned they would be about the ozone layer when they’re siezed by an asthma attack that won’t go away with the “accepted” methods of treatment, when their throat and back are on fire from trying to drag a tiny amount of air into their lungs and the even worse pain of trying to expell it. I bet they’d be grabbing for a bottle of Primatene without a thought or care for the enviroment, anything to just make it stop.
My brother and family is canadian and he couldn’t believe it. He’ll sell it on Amazon.
I believe this will cost lives, and all for pc nonsense
Thanks for the ping!
The madness continues. Inhalers must have an almost impossible to detect,if any, impact on the ozone layer. I can’t believe asthma sufferers are being harrassed over this nonsense.
Governments run by communists kill people.
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