The Last Puff of CFCs

When I hear “chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)“, I immediately think of the Aqua Net that my cousin used to spray my bangs high and tight for picture day in the 80’s. I rarely think of any present day products as for years now companies have been ceasing to use the ozone-depleting substances. So imagine my surprise when I heard the news that the FDA is urging patients with asthma and their medical providers to switch out any existing inhalers propelled by CFCs for inhalers that are powered by hydrofluoroalkanes (HFAs). I was honestly surprised to hear that inhalers were still made with CFCs. I have been using inhalers to control my asthma since about as long as I’ve been able to inhale (and probably more since my years of Aqua Net exposure), and I thought that the time of CFCs was long gone.

The push to cease the use of CFCs in all inhalers has been a few years in the making, and as part of the ozone-depleting substances phaseout included in the Clean Air Act, the production and sale of inhalers made with CFCs will be forever halted on December 31, 2008. According to the Associated Press, Armstrong Pharmaceuticals is the only remaining company still making inhalers with CFCs. After reading that, I ran for my medicine cabinet to look at my inhalers. Sure enough, one of my inhalers, my albuterol, is made by none other than Armstrong Pharmaceuticals.

I feel terrible that I’m an avid recycler, an infrequent driver, and a person who buys natural products whenever possible, and here I am contributing to ozone depletion with every little puff of my inhaler. I feel almost as terrible thinking about how long it’s going to take to actually get in to see my physician to switch my inhalers, but that’s another post.

Anyone else out there still using a CFCs -spouting inhaler?
Has anyone seen any information about services to assist families with switching/purchasing/accessing new inhalers?
I’ll do some more digging….

Sources:
Environmental Protection Agency – Air > Air Pollutants > Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs)
Environmental Protection Agency – Ozone Layer Depletion: Regulatory Programs
“FDA: Time For Asthma Patients To Switch Inhalers” – Associated Press, May 30, 2007