Climate pollution from inhalers has the impact of half a million cars per year, study finds

https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/06/health/inhalers-climate-change-wellness?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit

by cnn

16 comments

  1. The people who are most vulnerable to the hard-to-breathe air that comes with climate change may [inadvertently be adding to the problem](https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/06/health/inhalers-climate-change-wellness?utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=missions&utm_source=reddit), new research finds.

    About 34 million Americans have a chronic lung disease, including [28 million](https://aafa.org/asthma/asthma-facts/) who have asthma, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America – and the number is expected to grow as higher temperatures bring more weather phenomena that trigger breathing issues like droughts, floods and wildfires.

    To treat conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, millions of Americans use what doctors often call metered dose inhalers, small boot-shaped devices that spray set doses of medication into the lungs in a quick burst using propellants called hydrofluoroalkanes, or HFAs.

    Studies [published Monday](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2025.16524?guestAccessKey=bd8422fd-fc45-4d27-8905-89b839b6fd60&utm_source=for_the_media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=100625) in the journal [JAMA](https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/10.1001/jama.2025.16524?guestAccessKey=bd8422fd-fc45-4d27-8905-89b839b6fd60&utm_source=for_the_media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=100625) found that medication inhalers are “substantial” contributors to planet-warming pollution. It’s not the medicine itself that’s the problem; rather, it’s the HFAs.

  3. How many of these people have chronic asthma from cars and car industries?

  5. Guess what? More emissions and pollution, the more asthma there will be! It all comes back to reducing fossil fuel use and not blaming ordinary people, kids.

  6. Can we maybe not focus on this moronic stuff? This is literal fuel for climate deniers

  8. Half a million cars is not a large percentage. Cars are also a large contributor to air pollution…

    Rather than trying to shift the blame toward inhalers, which some people need to live, why don’t we look into why inhalers are needed in the first place?

  9. Not much alternative for the people who need it now, but ya, we can work to change it a bit.

    Rechargeable vaping device? Need some form of energy to aerosolize it.

    I imagine it’s just inhaled and the liver metabolizes it.

  10. The last of the last of the last of the last of our problems

  12. This is an easily fixable problem, and such a non-issue.

    The drug itself isn’t the problem, it’s the chemical propellant used to atomized the drug.

    The main issue is that the propellant gases we use today have a global warming potential in the 1000s area.  That means that for every 1 kg of propellant released it causes the same amount of global warming as releasing 1000 kg (aka one metric ton) of CO2.

    We switched to HFAs as a propellant after banning CFCs due to their impact on the ozone layer.

    We can simply switch to a different propellant with a lower GWP or use dry powder inhalers instead.  We haven’t had a reason to invest in research and testing needed to ensure the safety and efficacy of such a change.

  13. Cool! We’re keeping inhalers but getting rid of carnivore dogs. Now post the dog-owner diet math.

  15. Yall, read the dam study. “Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Feldman reported receipt of personal fees from Alosa Health and for serving as an expert witness in litigation against inhaler manufacturers. Dr Han reported previous employment by GSK prior to initiation of this project.”

  16. Health devices get a pass from me, we have bigger fish to fry

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