Now inhalers blamed for global warming

THEY are small, apparently harmless devices carried by millions in case of emergency but drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) has revealed its asthma inhalers are its biggest single source of greenhouse gas emissions.

The British pharmaceutical giant said an astonishing 45 per cent of its overall emissions could be traced to asthma inhalers and it has begun trials of a less polluting replacement. GSK, which makes the well-known blue Ventolin puffer prescribed by the NHS, said inhalers contain a greenhouse gas called HFA, which generates the equivalent of five million tons of carbon emissions each year.

The propellant helps patients inhale when they suffer an asthma attack. In the UK, around 5.4million people currently receive treatment for asthma.

GSK’s vice-president of sustainability, Claire Lund, said there will be a 12 to 18-month first-stage process of assessing a successor to Ventolin inhalers.

She told The Mail on Sunday: ‘We are tackling all aspects of our footprint.

‘There will be no compromise on patient safety.’

GSK notched up sales of £785million from Ventolin last year. It also makes alternative ‘dry powder’ inhalers, which do not contain harmful gases. These are common in Scandinavia but not in the UK or US.

GSK chief executive Emma Walmsley, who will tomorrow appear virtually at the New York Climate Week event, said: ‘The science is clear that nature loss and climate change are already harming human health, so we must act now if we are to protect and improve people’s health.’