There has been significant discussion in the climate and scientific community about the impact that inhalers patients use to treat their COPD or asthma may have on the environment, specifically, global warming.
Metered dose inhalers contain a propellant gas to push out the medication when you squeeze the device. These propellant gases affect the ozone layer of the earth. it seems like there is such a small amount of material used but this along with other hydrocarbons does affect our environment. The gas propellant in most inhalers has been switched to a less harmful gas but many patients were prescribed a so-called breath actuated inhaler to avoid these harmful environment gas issues but unsupervised inhaler switching has some adverse patient consequences.
Proper inhaler use is important but is often unsupervised. Patients and physicians were asked what they felt was most important to them when choosing an inhaler. Both health care professionals and patients felt that efficacy and ease of use was more important than any environemental concerns.
In a large multinational survey both patients and physicians prioritized the effectiveness of the inhaler used and the ability to use it over climate change. Moreover, bith health caer professionals and patients felt it was the responsibility of the pharmaceutical industry to provide environmentally friendly inhalers. There have been potential recycling programs for used inhalers, but I am unaware of any at the present time.
For now, if you feel the need to save the environmentm talk to your physician about a breath actuated inhaler.
