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.
>>Maybe you can go the Lake Erie route, take a boat across<<
LOL! There is a park 20 minutes south of Detroit where you can shoot an arrow to Canada. A rowboat will get you there in about 3 minutes.
Looks like the doctors are going to benefit as well. My mom has had asthma since she was 6 mos. old. Now, her doctor will not prescribe her asthma medicine unless she comes in every year for a complete physical... head to toe and all parts in between including smear and mammogram. It costs her $500 just to be allowed a prescription and that’s just the part she pays out of pocket.
I was thinking that myself.I’m sure there are people out there who can’t afford to go to the doctor every time they need a new prescription who rely on these.I’m sure OTC is much cheaper than what paying for a prescription without drug coverage costs.
Thanks for the ping!
I can assure you that epinephrine doesn’t last long after it’s expiration date.
I find it interesting though that they only say that liquid anti-biotics degrade over time. A friend of mine is a pharmacological research doctor at John's Hopkins (I see you include one link to JH) and I asked him about the stability of anti-biotic pills. He said they do degrade and I could expect to still receive the negative effects that normally come with anti-biotics and little or none of the intended positive effects.
I had specifically asked him about Penicillin V, Amoxycillin and Ampicillin that I have which is over ten years past the expiration date. This is his and his wife's specialty and has been for about two decades or more.
Taking expired antibiotics is a great way to destroy your kidneys and liver, throw them out, immediately ....
The ozone hole thing is really absurd. Are we to believe that Rx inhalers are more enviro-friendly? Ridiculous! Clearly their intention is to discourage people from using any inhalers by making them more expensive, more trouble to get and socially unacceptable. IOWs human lives are expendable for the sake of an unproven theory about ozone.
These people promoting this should be horse-whipped.
Literally, no hyperbole intended.
My friend didn’t say that they would cause any harm like that just that they would do the normal negatives like nausea, killing off the bacteria in the gut, headaches and such. May I ask what your source is for your view on it?
I wonder how many children will die thanks to these "environmentalists?" How many millions have died of malaria with the banning of DDT?
Mark
sour = your
We have MD’s serving in Congress, including Ron and Rand Paul. They need to step on some pointy heads over this.
If I had a kid with asthma I’d be parked on Pelosi’s doorstep.
Idiots.
Have her go to a minor emerg. center doc-in-a-box
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