The Christian Science Monitor May 30, 8:16 PM EDT
FDA: Time for asthma patients to switch inhalers
WA****NGTON (AP) -- Old-fa****oned asthma inhalers that contain
environment-harming chemicals will no longer be sold at year's
end - and the government is urging patients not to wait until
the last minute to switch to newer alternatives.
Patients use inhalers to dispense airway-relaxing albuterol
during asthma attacks.
Chemicals called chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, once were
widely used to propel the drug into the lungs. But CFC-
containing consumer products are being phased out because CFCs
damage the Earth's protective ozone layer. As of Dec. 31,
asthma inhalers with CFCs can no longer be made or sold in the
U.S. Inhalers instead will be powered by ozone-friendly HFAs,
or hydrofluoroalkanes.
The ozone layer ****elds the planet from harmful ultraviolet
radiation.
Patients have been warned of the change for several years, but
the Food and Drug Administration issued an advisory Friday
saying anyone still using CFC inhalers should ask their doctor
about switching now.
The FDA warns that patients will face a learning curve: HFA
inhalers may taste and feel different. The spray may feel
softer. Each must be primed and cleaned in a specific way to
prevent clogs. And they tend to cost more.
CFC-free albuterol inhaler options include GlaxoSmithKline's
Ventolin HFA, Schering Plough's Proventil HFA and Teva
Specialty Pharmaceuticals' ProAir HFA. Sepracor's Xopenex HFA
is also CFC-free, but it contains levalbuterol, a similar
medication.
The FDA said Armstrong Pharmaceuticals is the sole remaining
maker of CFC inhalers and is expected to stop production even
before the deadline. A spokesman for Armstrong's parent
company wouldn't say when production would stop, but sales of
remaining inventory will continue until Dec. 31.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/M/MED_ASTHMA_INHALERS?
SITE=MABOC&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2008-05-30-20-
16-31
--
A government, of, by, and, for: Rich, Elite, Freemasons.
But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the
light:
for whatsoever doth make manifest is light.
The light ****neth in darkness;
and the darkness comprehended it not.
The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be
single,
thy whole body shall be full of light.
But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of
darkness.
If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great
is that darkness!
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead,
and Christ shall give thee light.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
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