Building off the Ways and Means Committee’s prior work on the health care sector’s impact on the climate crisis, Chairman Richard E. Neal (D-MA) requested information on the environmental impacts of some inhalers—pressurized metered dose inhalers (pMDIs)—and how the sector is transitioning to more environmentally-friendly products.
Neal sent letters to the American Academy of Pediatrics; the American Medical Association; the American Academy of Family Physicians; the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology; the Global Initiative for Asthma; the Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease; America’s Health Insurance Plans, and the Pharmaceutical Care Management Association.
“The impact of the climate crisis on health is well documented, and the health care industry – the sector that seeks to address the health needs of individuals and populations – is responsible for an estimated 8.5 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in the United States,” wrote Chairman Neal. “PMDIs have an enormous negative environmental impact. In the U.S. alone, HFC propellants in pMDIs were projected to contribute 2.5 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in 2020, which is equal to the yearly carbon emissions of 543,478 passenger vehicles.”
pMDIs use the harmful greenhouse gas, hydrofluorocarbon (HFC), as a propellent to deliver medication to treat conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, exacerbating the very illnesses they are intended to treat. HFC pMDIs represent 75 percent of inhalers prescribed in the United States despite the existence of more environmentally friendly alternatives, such as dry powder inhalers and soft mist inhalers, which can be used to treat most patients over the age of five.
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