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Metered Dose Inhalers

Metered Dose Inhalers (MDIs) are used to deliver the main forms of treatment for asthma sufferers. They are pressurised, hand-held devices that use propellants to deliver doses of medication to patients’ lungs. They were first introduced in the 1950s and CFCs were traditionally used as the propellant because they are non-toxic, non-reactive, non-flammable, and do not have any odour or taste.

When a patient uses the MDI, the propellant is released into the atmosphere. In 2005, 198 thousand kilograms of CFC propellant were released when patients used our products in the EU and US (we do not have data for the rest of the world). A much smaller proportion of CFCs - 51 thousand kilograms - escaped to air during production of inhalers worldwide (see ozone depleting substances in manufacturing).

The Montreal Protocol bans the production of CFCs but it exempts a number of “essential uses” which include MDIs. Nevertheless we plan to eliminate the use of CFCs from our worldwide product portfolio by 2010. We are committed to stop making CFC devices for developed country markets by the end of 2006 and we will not request any more essential use CFC allocation for the US or the EU after 2005.

We now offer a selection of alternatives in most countries. The main alternative propellant we use is HFC 134a, which does not affect ozone but does have high global warming potential.

We have also invested heavily in dry powder delivery systems that do not use CFCs or HFCs. We estimate that we have invested more than £550 million ($1 billion) on new plant and R&D for CFC-alternatives since we identified this as an issue in the 1980s.

The data only includes EU and US.

Note to Ozone Depletion Potential Charts
We report ozone depletion potential in CFC-11 equivalents as defined by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Ozone Secretariat (www.ghgprotocol.org and www.ipcc.ch).

Ozone depletion potential from patient use of metered dose inhalers decreased by 57% since 2004 (90% since 2001).

 

 

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