Health care's carbon footprint: Inhalers causing greenhouse emissions

Los Angeles (dpa) – Over the past decade, the use of inhalers has generated the same amount of emissions in the US as around half a million petrol or diesel cars, according to researchers who describe much of this everyday asthma medication as a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions. As governments around the world seek ways to drive down the emissions causing climate change, a team at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), is calling for health care systems to shift away from common inhalers with high emissions. "Inhalers add to the growing carbon footprint of the US health care system," said William Feldman, a pulmonologist and health services researcher at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine. Metered-dose inhalers are "the most harmful" as they contain propellants similar to those used in aerosol sprays, according to the team, which said some 1.6 billion inhalers were dispensed in the US between 2014 and 2024. "Other types of inhalers, which include dry inhalers and soft powder mist inhalers, are less harmful to the environment as they deliver medication to the lungs without the need for propellants," the researchers said. Published by the American Medical Association, the study was based in part on inhaler prescription data, according to the researchers. The team's estimates for emissions were generated by using what they said were validated academic studies and "analyzed by drug type, device type, propellant type, therapeutic class, branded status, manufacturer, payer and pharmacy benefit manager." The following information is not intended for publication dpa spr coh

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