Asthma inhalers to go ‘green’ on Dec. 31

WASHINGTON – Last warning: Asthma inhalers go “green” on Dec. 31, forcing patients still using the old-fashioned kind to make a pricey and even confusing switch. The medicine inside these rescue inhalers — the albuterol that quickly opens airways during an asthma attack — isn’t changing. But the chemicals used to puff that drug into your lungs are. No more chlorofluorocarbons, or CFCs, that damage Earth’s protective ozone layer. By year’s end, all albuterol inhalers must be powered by the more eco-friendly chemical HFA, or hydrofluoroalkane. The down side: The new inhalers cost more, $30 to $60 compared to as little as $5 or $10 for the disappearing generic CFC inhalers.advertisement | And…

Read More