Question for fellow doctors...

I'm not a physician, but since we have a physician in FHOP who's an "expert" on global warming and politics I thought I'd jump in here. :lol:
CFCs are a catalytic agent in destruction in the ozone layer, which, you know as a physician, has serious health consequences. I'm also aware of the widespread use of Albuterol inhalers; my wife and daughter use them. There seems to be a significant incidence of asthma in the general population recently, possibly a result of environmental hazards such as emissions from power plants. As the number of people with asthma increases, the so does the significance of CFCs from inhalers.
There doesn't seem to be a good answer here, especially since, it is my understanding at least, that a large proportion of asthma patients are low-income (probably because they are more likely to live near factories, power plants, etc.) But I'm sure that the pharmaceutical companies will profit, no matter what the case.
How long do you think it would take for generic inhalers using HFA in place of CFCs to appear on the market? It seems to me they could have waited for that to occur before instituting the ban on CFC inhalers.

 

I am not a doctor either, but I once heard that the world's oceans give off three times as much CFCs as all the worlds AC and aerosols combined.

I have also heard that the hole in the ozone over the north pole is a natural ocurance that has always expanded and contracted over billions of years. It may now be expanding, but in a million years or so, who knows, it could start shrinking all by itself.

 

sounds like an awfully convenient way to get rid of the generics. i suspect the FDA has already approved other propellants for such use so why is this an issue?

 

Oh, you must have intended to write "fellow physicians." Many of us have doctorates in other fields.