US Senator Jim DeMint, a Republican from South Carolina, failed to persuade the US Senate to prohibit the use of tax dollars for enforcement of the FDA ban on the CFC-propelled OTC epinephrine inhaler Primatene Mist. The Senate voted 54-44 against DeMint’s bill.
DeMint expressed outrage at the outcome of the vote: “Fifty-four Senators voted to appease extreme environmentalists by banning inhalers that millions of Americans that depend on to breathe. This ban won’t do anything serious to help the environment but it will force asthma suffers to spend two to three times more on prescription inhalers, leading many low-income Americans to seek less effective remedies. Even the EPA and FDA admit that banning OTC inhalers will do little to nothing to affect the ozone, but it could lead to hundreds of thousands of new asthma related hospital visits and hundreds of millions in new health costs.”
“This is exactly the kind of ridiculous regulation that shows why Americans are so fed up with the federal government’s nanny-state mentality,” he continued. “Once again, Washington is willing to put Americans at risk in the hopes of appeasing special interests.”
During the debate prior to the vote, Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer of California said, “This amendment affects the ability of people with asthma to purchase an inhaler that works, and the American Lung Association opposes this amendment. The American Thoracic Society, which is the expert–these are the experts on anything to do with respiratory diseases. There are 150,000 doctors who oppose this amendment.”
“I am perplexed by it because the reason we want to get away from these CFCs is because Ronald Reagan signed the treaty to do away with them and George W. Bush passed the rule to do away with them. On behalf of the people who depend on inhalers that work right, that don’t use CFCs, I hope we will stand with the Lung Association and the 150,000 doctors of the Thoracic Society. I hope we will vote this down.”
DeMint responded, “Certainly, there are many doctors who want folks to come in and get prescriptions. There are many manufacturers who make prescription drugs, but let 3 million Americans access these inhalers. They do not cause any problems with the environment. The EPA has recognized it is negligible and the manufacturer will have this worked out over the next few years.”
The FDA has been attempting to prepare Primatene Mist users for the phase-out, which takes effect after December 31, 2011.
Read Senator DeMint’s press release.
