Has Your Inhaler Been Banned Out of Environmental Concerns? It Could Cost You
- Posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:23pm by
Liz Klimas
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WASHINGTON (The Blaze/AP) — If you have asthma and rely on an over-the-counter inhaler, you’ll need to switch a prescription-only alternative by 2012 as part of the federal government‘s latest attempt to protect the Earth’s atmosphere. And this switch will probably cost you.
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 but has since been removed from many.
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.
Phasing out of epinephrine inhalers began in 2008. Watch this 2010 FDA video about the process:
Right now there is only one OTC inhaler on the market — Armstrong Pharmaceutical’s Primatene mist. Other manufacturers have already switched to the more environmentally-friendly propellant called hydrofluoroalkane. Both types of inhalers offer quick-relief to symptoms like shortness of breath and chest tightness. The inhalers containing hydrofluoroalkane are only available via prescription.
“If you rely on an over-the-counter inhaler to relieve your asthma symptoms, it is important that you contact a health care professional to talk about switching to a different medicine to treat your asthma,” said Badrul Chowdhury, FDA’s director of pulmonary drug division.
Chowdhury told reporters and doctors via teleconference that “in the worst case scenario we are looking at 1 to 2 million people using” Primatene, adding that most of those patients likely use multiple medications to treat their asthma.
NPR writes that the company’s label has been notifying users of the phase out. The action is part of an agreement signed in 1987 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.
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Comments (64)
Carol Ingian
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 3:24pmI blame the pharmaceutical companies.
Report Post »upstatenyteabagger
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 3:40pmI am glad this is getting off the market this stuff almost killed my 26 year old brother it caused a heart attack and permanent damage to his heart. The doctor couldn’t believe they sold this over the counter because it contains medicine that do not belong together. I also remember a new story done on this when it killed Nickki Taylors sister she is a well known model. People should look into this stuff it really can kill you. My brothers real prescription ran out and he needed to get it refilled and in the meantime he bought this and it almost cost his life
Report Post »piecolorado
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 3:49pmPrimatine Mist is not safe anyway. I used to use it, and I could feel my heart going crazy afterward. I got a prescription for Albuterol, and it worked just as well, without the side-effects. However, a few years ago, they stopped using CFC’s for Albuterol, and the new inhaler is terrible. I often have to use my very inconvenient nebulizer now, since the new inhalers are so ineffective. Keep CFC’s legal for inhalers. It won’t hurt the environment, and it may save lives.
Report Post »tallguyjgg
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 5:16pmAgreed piecolorado. The new inhalers are deeply inadequate. I used to only have to fill my prescription once every other month. Then the new stuff came out and I was having to fill it every 3 weeks. The pharmacy said “you can feel or hear the puffs as they are going in. You are getting the medicine whether you realize it or not”. I told them” I can feel and hear the puffs and its the medicine that does not work. You can take this little red piece of crap back and give me something that works!” I since have switched three times to a new inhaler which works almost as well as the old ones, but it costs $40. I guess its better then not breathing right?
Report Post »Bill Rowland
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 7:41pmAnother chance for “mother” to baby us and make Al Bore some more money. Doesn’t effect me but I have a grandson with no medical coverage.
OMG – Psalm 109:8
Report Post »shazam3
Posted on September 23, 2011 at 9:30amThe new products are not worth a crap. Also you have to pay a doctor for a visit at almost twice the cost of the product. I’ve had to use the Primeatine product for almost 30 years. It is only a stop gap emergency product. Some people will over use every drug in existance to some degree and suffer consequences. When used as directed this product has been keeping millions of people like me from the emergency rooms. The original remarks when it was no longer on the shelves was the druggies were stealing it to make home made drugs. I now have to buy it over the internet at consideral cost but I have a supply. The FDA got paid off simply…….
Report Post »packsack54
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 3:02pmAnyone got any R-12 for my truck AC. Same thing happen here.
Report Post »stang289
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 7:22pmYep R12 the 134a now a new Freon that is flammable coming soon , Its all about who holds the patents for the product , MONEY
Report Post »daveposh
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:58pmI have asthma and my “prescription” inhaler has already gone through two changes/revisions/ingredient-changes because of “damage to the environment” concerns.
Report Post »ionic
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:51pmSave the bears. Kill the people.
Report Post »BlazingInSC
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:48pmThis isn’t new news folks. This is a result of the Montreal Protocol that George H.W. Bush signed in an effort to “protect the depleting ozone layer”. The fact is that at the height of production of CFC based fast acting inhalers, it only accounted for .02% of total CFC emissions (which is negligible with regards to ozone depletion). The outright banning of CFC inhalers has had zero impact on ozone depletion/repletion rates. In fact, the ozone has been repleting faster than the reduction of CFC products as a whole since the provisions of the Montreal Protocol have gone into effect. This is a money grab by big pharma and power grab by the UN.
Report Post »Prosoldier
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 7:09pmSomehow, I find it HIGHLY INCREDIBLE that these inhalers contribute .02 of the entire world’s total CFC emissions. I don’t think everyone in the world standing together outside ripping the tops of of every existing can of this stuff simultaneously and letting it all vent straight out into the air would contribute amount to .02 of the world’s CFC emissions. Sorry, I‘m just so NOT a believer in the hype that we’ve been trying to brainwash everyone with over the last several years. Take your UN Agenda 21 and the White House Rural Council ideals and stick them where your PERSONAL CFCs are highest !!!
Report Post »MOLLYPITCHER
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:45pmWhen my son had asthma, I tries to get a cheaper inhaler and they told me that they did not make them anymore because of CFCs.
Report Post »A few changes to diet, (more REAL homegrown food) and he no longer has asthma. Many doctors only care about treating the symptoms and not the problem.
jjohnson_n_oklahoma
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:44pmOkay, they already stopped making my old inhaler because of the chemicals that it “supposedly” contained. Then, my new inhaler cost almost sixty dollars for a three week supply. Now they are going to change it again. My insurance wont cover the new inhaler I have now. I am so sick of the regulations that are being imposed on us.
Report Post »LibertyUSA1
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:38pmI am asthmatic and NO the new inhalers are not as effective and have doubled in cost.The propellant is definately inadaquate. I am also an advanced practice nurse. I provide anesthesia and I can testify it is just not the asthmatics affected, but those that I need to give the medicine to during the course of surgery.
Report Post »ReddirtOkie
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:31pmThere are some pharmacies that do not carry Primatene Mist. I use the product and tried to get at Wallmart but they said they did not carry it so had to go to Albertsons. If the maker of the product would change the propellant the the FDA/EPA wouldn’t have a leg to stand on. Now it looks like I am going to have to go to a doctor ($) and get a prescription (another $) and put it on my medicare. Whoops there go some more dollars. If Washington ever gets its head out of rectal defilade, we might get this country back on its feet and headed to where it should.
Report Post »Bigolfascist
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 3:04pm“If Washington ever gets its head out of rectal defilade,…” Not with that set of ears! That head is in eternal rectal defilade!
Report Post »teddlybar
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:18pmWhat the article doesn‘t tell you is that when the prescription inhalers switched propellants a few years ago that they became less effective because the new propellant didn’t do as good of a job disbursing the medication into a fine mist as the previous propellant. One company has managed to fix their delivery system, but the rest are apparently still not as effective as the prior inhalers.
I’m all for protecting the environment, but I have to question whether we’re letting an unreasonable overprotectiveness toward the environment cost us both in our own health and the health of the economy.
Report Post »Bill Rowland
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 7:48pmIts not unreasonable over protection it’s fill Fat Alberts pockets. He has to pay for his private jet and all the SUVs.
OMG – Psalm 109:*
Report Post »COFemale
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:12pmIf the spray is going into a persons mouth, how is it getting released into the atmosphere? Please explain that one too me. Do they assume that because the person starts talking the chlorofluorocarbons suddenly float out of their mouths. If that was the cause then, they would need to take another inhale.
Please dear Lord, grant those without a brain to suddenly see the light and get one.
Report Post »aircraft_ee
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 6:22pmCFC’s are not absorbed in the lungs. They are exhaled out into the atmosphere. One of the interesting things is that most Freon (CFC-type) compounds are incredibly non-toxic. The only way you can die from inhaling them is if they replace the normal air with Freon vapor and you die from asphyxiation. This has happen over the years to a fair number of workers who were inside vats or tanks that they were cleaning with Freon-based solvents. They passed out from lack of oxygen and did not know they were suffocating because the suffocation reflex is based on build-up of CO2 in the lungs, not lack of O2.
Report Post »ricckky
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:09pmMy combivent went from $35.00 generic in 1998 which I can no longer get because of the EPA to $198.00-name brand only. I now reach the donut hole in August which I never did before. I am retired–(66) and had to get a part time job For $8.00/hr. just to pay for my medicine–I have COPD and can barely work. This is shameful!!!!—Keep voting for the Dems and we will all die prematurely which is what they want!!!!—These people are shameful!!!!
Report Post »Ducky 1
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:09pmWhat do we expect from a government headed by a man who calls it a “Breathalyzer”. Really don’t want this bunch in charge of my health care………wait, that is what I have is government health care!!
Report Post »TomFerrari
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:03pmYep!
I have family with asthma…
NOTHING has worked as well as the herb “ephedra” which the FDA outlawed years ago, out of so-called concerns for risk/danger to life. It was usable for dieting, and some people managed to wolf down enough of it to cause injury or death.
Mind you, ephedra was used in China FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS, but, our FDA needed to BAN IT.
Now, those who needed it for asthma are FELONS if they buy or sell it in the U.S., or if they bring it in from another country!
WHY, oh, WHY would the FDA make outlaws out of people with asthma?
I’m SURE it had nothing to do with selling more albuterol and other asthma PRESCRIPTIONS sold by the BIG PHARMACEUTICAL companies… Nah, they’d never do anything like that!
Besides, if that were the case, they would get rid of other OTC treatments for asthma, too.
WHAT’S THAT?
THEY JUST DID?
Oh, my mistake.
Now, to pile INSULT on top of injury…
The feds are turning their heads while MARIJUANA becomes legal, but, ephedra which had RECOGNIZED and ACCEPTED legitimate medical purposes, is banned.
The FDA has become nothing more than a pay-for-play arm of the pharmaceutical companies. Pay enough to the right people, and your drug stays on the market. Pay enough to the right people, and competition is outlawed, whether it is prescription or otc ! ! !
WHAT IN THE HELL HAVE WE DONE TO FREEDOM AND LIBERTY !?!?!?
Report Post ».
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DanWesson455
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:00pmBoy O Boy. That would be just SHI**Y
Report Post »DanWesson455
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:59pmCan’t pay the XTRA? Just die. It is O’Bambam Care!
Report Post »jdawg
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:57pmDon’t give them any ideas!
Report Post »momsense
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:53pmWe need to gert rid of the psyhchotic EPA—pronto.
Report Post »Bill Rowland
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 7:56pmAnd the EPA, DOED, DOE, Homeland Security, HHS, and cut back on the rest.
OMG – Psalm 109:8
Report Post »politicaljules
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:53pmNot only that but the price of prescription inhalers have increased in price (I’m talking co pay price)to $80. my child uses two a month and we used to pay five bucks for each one. In the last month the copays jumped exponentially. Thanks obamacare.
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:47pmOh my god, that amount of propellant if released every hour of every day by every human on the planet wouldn’t be detachable in the atmosphere for decades, much less contribute to changing the environment.
Report Post »Sjah
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:46pmSome one A$$ needs to get kicked over this.
Report Post »rl
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:45pmSo who owns Armstrong Pharmaceutical’s Primatene mist??????
Report Post »momsense
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:51pmFollow the money !
Report Post »Dismayed Veteran
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:10pmArmstrong Pharma is a privately held subsidary of Amphastor Phama. Amphastor is privately held. Neither site shows a list of key executives of board of directors.
Report Post »The_Almighty_Creestof
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:43pmI see the need for these remaining over the counter as they are the last line of defense against a trip to the ER…but to be honest, at my work place…90% are stolen. So I really do not care.
Report Post »geonj
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:42pmso now we know, 1-2 million asthmatics using primatene mist are the cause of holes in the ozone. such an easy fix, we just let them die. enviromentalists happy, problem solved. this must be one of those clauses in obamacare that we couldn’t see until they signed the bill.
Report Post »BlazingInSC
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:52pm@GEONJ – No, this is occurring as a result of the US obligations to the UN and the Montreal Protocol. This is not new news. Parents of asthmatic children have already been made very well aware of this problem because CFC prescription inhalers have gone off the shelves as of about 5 years ago. The new inhalers are epic failures that are very ineffective against acute asthmatic attacks that require a fast and deep inhalation of medicine.
Report Post »Locked
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 1:41pmOnly one company makes the new kind, huh? Follow the money…
Report Post »Rapunzel
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:04pmNo, only one company makes the old OTC kind.
Report Post »Locked
Posted on September 22, 2011 at 2:40pmOh you’re right, I read it too fast.
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