First, let’s go back a month, this from the Will Steger Foundation:
On Tuesday [August 2nd 2011], State Senator Torres Ray said, “I’m delighted to participate in the air quality awareness event organized by the Sierra Club in Minneapolis. Air Pollution caused by humans is an increasing danger for people and the environment. I’m very concerned about the threat to public health posed by cities’ air pollution. Many children and seniors in our City are being diagnosed with asthma disorders and need to take strong measures to address it.”
…
Residents are also calling upon the Obama administration to protect children’s health by issuing strong protections from air pollution like smog. The EPA was scheduled to release its final rule on smog on July 29 but announced last week that it would delay finalizing the rule. The new ozone standard would protect some of America’s most vulnerable populations, including children and the elderly, from respiratory illnesses like asthma. “EPA’s Science Advisory Board and health professionals have advocated a stricter standard for most of the 40 years that we’ve been monitoring ozone in the air we breathe,” said Dr. Simcik, a faculty member at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. “We need an educated public to support these experts and politicians in protecting both our health and our economy.” Dr. Simcik and other concerned citizens of Minneapolis urged the Obama administration to stand up for public health and to issue long overdue clean air protections that protect public health.
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So the Sierra Club wants to reduce Ozone. But now in the story below the FDA wants to protect it by banning OTC inhalers. Wait…What?
(Yes I know, tropospheric -vs- stratospheric ozone, different animals. But the inhaler imagery with kids has become an icon for eco-crusades, so that’s why I’m pointing it out)
From MSNBC, madness lunacy %$!!@*&^^!! over ozone and an inconsequential amount of CFC’s:
Asthma patients who rely on over-the-counter inhalers will need to switch to prescription-only alternatives as part of the federal government’s latest attempt to protect the Earth’s atmosphere.
The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday patients who use the epinephrine inhalers to treat mild asthma will need to switch by Dec. 31 to other types that do not contain chlorofluorocarbons, an aerosol substance once found in a variety of spray products.
The action is part of an agreement signed by the U.S. and other nations to stop using substances that deplete the ozone layer, a region in the atmosphere that helps block harmful ultraviolet rays from the Sun.
But the switch to a greener inhaler will cost consumers more. Epinephrine inhalers are available via online retailers for around $20, whereas the alternatives, which contain the drug albuterol, range from $30 to $60.
But I wonder, will the American Lung Association get all flustered and launch an ad campaign like they did last November over California’s Proposition 23?
I doubt it, because as we all know, kids with inhalers are needed to combat big oil and CO2.
The eco-world has gone beserkers with this one, even CBS News is asking: Why? Me too especially since global ozone is predicted to recover:
The graph above is from a 2004 EPA report which says:
Assuming only halocarbons from human activities are affecting ozone and global compliance with the Montreal Protocol, the ozone layer is expected to recover by the middle of the 21st century.
And this is well before the FDA decided they had to ban inhalers. Something smells about this.
What will really happen is that this will turn regular people and children into scofflaws, and they’ll buy over the counter inhalers in other countries like Mexico and have them shipped here. It will be another giant sucking sound.
Further to my hypothesis, per this September 2003 paper by Henk Eskes, Arjo Segers, and Peter van Velthoven of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (KNMI), De Bilt, The Netherlands, “Ozone Forecasts of the Stratospheric Polar Vortex Splitting Event in September 2002”
“The southern hemisphere major warming event in September 2002 has led to a break-up of the vortex in the middle and higher stratosphere and a corresponding splitting of the ozone hole.
“the splitting of the vortex had a dramatic impact on the ozone hole, reducing it’s size and mixing ozone depleted vortex air with midlatitude air.”
“In September 2002 the South Pole vortex showed a rapidly developing distortion and a subsequent split of the vortex in two more or less equal parts (Allen et al., 2003 ). On September 18 the vortex looked normal. It was displaced slightly away from the pole, but not in an unusual manner. From 21 to 23 September the vortex rapidly elongated. The process resulted in a split vortex on 24-26 September. At this time the ozone hole had been transformed into two smaller ”ozone holes” of nearly equal size. After the split the vortex remnant on the Southern Atlantic slowly gained strength and moved back to the South Pole during the first two weeks of October. The second remnant vortex over the Pacific rapidly weakened and the ozone depleted air mixed with mid-latitude air with higher ozone mixing ratios.”
“In late September and early October, Syowa is located inside the (split) vortex. Ozone values remain low until about 10 October. Then the small remaining vortex moves from the South Atlantic towards the South pole, and ozone values increase. The ozone history at Arrival Heights is very different. As soon as the vortex starts to elongate, around 21 September, the ozone hole edge passes and ozone values jump from about 170 DU to high values of about 400 DU within one day. Ozone stays very high for more than two weeks and only around 10-12 October low, ozone depleted column values of less than 200 DU are abruptly found again. This is again related to the migration of the center of the small vortex to the pole. After this the vortex weakens and moves in the direction of South America, and the ozone at Arrival Heights reaches values of around 350 DU.”
http://www.knmi.nl/~eskes/papers/jas1039_eskes_pp.pdf
You are correct. This is one thing we can’t blame Obama for. Reagan (who was rolled by George Shultz, his Sec. of State) started the Montreal Protocol, but there was NO determination at the start to ban CFC inhalers. The drug cos. pushed for that and when Clinton became president, the drug cos. (IPAC) joined forces with them to ban CFC inhalers by ramming through Decision IX/19 Part 5 at the Ninth meeting of the Parties (Montreal Protocol) in 1997. Carol Browner EPA) forced this through quietly, and here we are.
I guess it’s time to chime in again with a reminder that you’re dealing with the religion of Environmentalism here, not the science of environmentalism. It’s much easier to understand the motivation of these people when you view it in this way. They worship Nature, Mother Earth, Gaia, Eywa, or whatever name chosen to deitize the environment. They use a distorted form of science in the same way Creationists distort science to “prove” their beliefs. When they say “You need to do what we say,” it’s not much different from any religion that preaches you need to live your life by their tenets or you’ll be damned somehow. Their primary concern is not human life, but pleasing their deity. Even a cursory examination of their beliefs and actions shows this is true. I could even say they practice human sacrifice, like religions of old. Ban DDT, whether the science supports it or not. Millions of Africans die and they don’t care because the environment has been saved. Ban certain inhaler propellents. More people with asthma die. No problem. Gaia demands it. “Save the environment” is just a modern version of “pleasing God.”
Of course none of these people will agree that they are practicing a religion. They will claim their beliefs are the truth and the rest of us just need to be converted. Fundamentalists always act this way. Many will claim to be atheists. But their disbelief is limited to a traditional Christian type concept of god.
These people cannot be made to alter their beliefs by reason anymore than a true believer in any of the traditional religions can be made to abandon their beliefs. In order to solve this problem, it must be addressed in the same way western culture treats all religion, not by trying to eradicate it, but by keeping it separate from politics and government. The general population must be made to understand what we’re dealing with here, preferably through education, so we can correctly identify it and work to get it out of government at all levels.
If we can’t do this, and the religion of Environmentalism completely takes over, then the world will be plunged into another period of oppression and misery, which is what always happens when one religion runs everything.
ferd berple at 8:02 pm: “what happened between 1940 and 1950 that caused US heart disease to spike? …. Artificial food introduced during WWII.”
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Garry at 6:03 am
…..There is widespread controversy in nutritional circles about the detrimental effects of hydrogenated vegetable fats and other substances (wheat, corn, high fructose corn syrup) on American health. The nutritional debate is similar to climate in many ways
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You beat me to it.
Some where in my reading I came across info that the American diet went from 27-30 grams of carbs to over 400 grams with an increase in diabetes and heart disease but I can not find it.
I did come across this interesting study on the subject:
American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 86, No. 2, 276-284, August 2007
© 2007 American Society for Nutrition
REVIEW ARTICLE
Low-carbohydrate nutrition and metabolism http://www.ajcn.org/content/86/2/276.full
And note that the decrease in ozone concentration during the 80s and 90s;
http://www.theozonehole.com/images/ozoned30.gif
corresponds with “several studies (including Waugh and Randel 1999; Waugh et al. 1999; Karpetchko et al. 2005; Black and McDaniel 2007) have indicated a trend over the 1980s and 1990s toward a later vortex breakdown.”
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_7598/is_20091115/ai_n42654411/
This is a good paper exploring the Polar Vortices;
http://www.columbia.edu/~lmp/paps/waugh+polvani-PlumbFestVolume-2010.pdf
and the chart on page 10 shows the vortex break-up dates for the Northern Hemisphere since 1960 and Southern Hemisphere since 1979.
Thank you for that information, Arthur…
Ferd Berple is right wrt salt in the diet of healthy people. The problem is that since the association with lung cancer and tobacco was proved the “scientists” have decided that every ill known to mankind is caused by a lifestyle choice or not doing as we are told by said “scientists”. Like I have said many times here, the health fascists are as deluded as the climate ones. Our Chief Medical Officer stated that we would have up to 60,000 deaths last winter due to swine flu, the actual number in UK was about 300. We are having children labelled as obese because they are a few pounds overweight. I was told in all seriousness by a health professional when my son was born that if I picked him up within an hour of having a cigarette, the nicotine in my breath could cause him to suffer cot death and all my children would get asthma and glue ear. I stopped smoking four years ago, my children are 24, 22 and 16 none of them has asthma or has ever had glue ear. If you drink more than 14 units of alcohol (women) or 21 units (men) a week, you will get liver disease. The list is endless, the pharmaceutical companies are rubbing their collective hands and medical costs have spiralled.
Eat five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, take exercise, don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t have casual unprotected sex and you will live forever…………………..but would you want to?
Here is a counterpoint to my hypothesis. They claim “The Recipe For Ozone Loss”
“To summarise then, we have looked at the ‘ingredients’ or conditions necessary for the destruction of ozone that we see in Antarctica. The same applies more or less to the loss of ozone in the Arctic stratosphere during winter. Although in this case the loss is not nearly so severe.
To recap then, the requirements for ozone loss are:
The polar winter leads to the formation of the polar vortex which isolates the air within it.
Cold temperatures form inside the vortex; cold enough for the formation of Polar Stratospheric Clouds (PSCs). As the vortex air is isolated, the cold temperatures and the PSCs persist.
Once the PSCs form, heterogeneous reactions take place and convert the inactive chlorine and bromine reservoirs to more active forms of chlorine and bromine.
No ozone loss occurs until sunlight returns to the air inside the polar vortex and allows the production of active chlorine and initiates the catalytic ozone destruction cycles. Ozone loss is rapid. The ozone hole currently covers a geographic region a little bigger than Antarctica and extends nearly 10km in altitude in the lower stratosphere.”:
http://www.atm.ch.cam.ac.uk/tour/part3.html
I do not understand the need for a chemical process to explain the ozone hole. “The word hole isn’t literal; no place is empty of ozone. Scientists use the word hole as a metaphor for the area in which ozone concentrations drop below the historical threshold of 220 Dobson Units.”
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/WorldOfChange/ozone.php
My ozone displacement hypothesis provides a logical explanation for the formation and dissipation of the “ozone hole”. The counterpoint article cited above affirms that “Air in the upper stratosphere and lower mesosphere descends into the polar vortex”
http://www.atm.ch.cam.ac.uk/tour/tour_images/antvortex.gif
and the EPA affirms that air towards the top of the stratosphere has a lower concentration of ozone:
http://www.epa.gov/ozone/science/images/FIG-FAQ01.JPG
Hence one would expect to see “ozone concentrations drop below the historical threshold of 220 Dobson Units.” within a polar vortex. I see no need for chemical processes to explain the drop in concentration and Occam’s Razor would suggest chemical processes should be eliminated when simple displacement effectively explains the “ozone hole” phenomenon.
I use an inhaler to prevent cold-induced asthma for winter morning bike rides.
I honestly didn’t know that over the counter options existed. Albuterol is probably the most common non-cfc prescription and the generic versions of it are basically free. With my HMO, the co-pay is higher than the cost of the drug itself.
I think banning the CFC versions is perfectly reasonable, so long as non-CFC direct competitors exist. It really isn’t something worth panicking about.
“Asteroid Hit Could Force Us to Live like Vampires. According to a new study, an asteroid splashdown in one of Earth’s oceans could trigger a chemical cycle that would destroy half the ozone layer. The enormous loss of protection against the sun’s ultraviolet radiation would probably force humans into a vampire-style existence of staying indoors during the hours of daylight.” http://tinyurl.com/4xyczae
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And asthmatics living as vampires would need…
Vlad the Inhaler
Unfortunately, the HFA inhaled meds do not work as well as the CFC inhaled meds for many, many patients. You are very lucky that they work well for you. Virtually all results from clinical trials, FDA MedWatch data, and reports from thousands of patients, physicians, nurses and pharmacists support the fact that HFA inhalers of all meds- not just albuterol- are inferior in safety and effectiveness.
re:Andrew Harding
A Russian friend tells me, “If you don’t drink or smoke, you die healthy.”
(but you still die)
As for carbs: The body, particularly the brain, runs on carbs. The trick is to eat a bunch of good stuff and get enough exercise and sleep. Duh.
This action is further proof that bureaucrats are gaining more control over our lives. When you realize this is coupled with rampant insanity spreading through Washington DC–we’re in deep trouble! The very people who would do anything “for the children” are throwing them under the bus to promote the Gaia religion. It’s sick and criminal.
guidoLaMoto says:
September 24, 2011 at 2:30 am
Oh- and I forgot to add an interesting bit of history: prior to its politicization (cf- “Reefer Madness”) smoking marijuana was the recommended treatment of choice for asthma.
Study on this:
Hemp demonisation another success story for the pharmaceutical and oil etc. corporate power influence – attacked from all sides because of its unique character as all round food, medicine, clothing, paper, bio-fuel, easily grown renewable – the first levi jeans were made from it – and same routine, took their influence to the UN after getting it banned in the US and forced a ban on it world-wide. They used a name change tactic because as hemp it was well known and used extensively nationwide, calling it marijuana from the mexican and associating it with mexicans and negroes and whites therefore on the skids by associating with these. An extraordinary campaign.
There’s a good documentary on the history, “Marijuana True Story” by Massimo Mazzucco, it says on the credits – “Please purchase a DVD at Amazon.com and support the author. Then feel free to copy and distribute.”
Medicinally it’s got properties which do the same things as our body’s defence system, iirc, it said uniquely to hemp, in the way it fights cancer etc. and so able to really compensate for the overload we have in our modern world. The cold pressed oil and the protein powder left over from that an excellent food source – the omega3/6 combination also good for bronchial/asthma problems.
A couple more interesting links:
http://phoenixtears.ca/articles/the-feds-finally-recognize-the-anti-cancer-potential-of-cannabis
http://phoenixtears.ca/articles/hemp-medicines-political-exile-at-large/
Various presidents had studies done on it and all came back with positive response to its use, they continued to squash it anyway. Until there are enough people willing to stick their necks out against the corporate takeover of goverments from within the system, I can’t see much chance of change in this or in the global warming scam.
“HALOE data show, however, a surprising phenomenon occurring in the center of the Antarctic vortex. Air from very high altitudes descends vertically through the center of the vortex, moving air to lower altitudes over several months.”
“The ozone hole is in the center of a spiraling mass of air over the Antarctic that is called the polar vortex. The vortex is not stationary and sometimes moves as far north as the southern half of South America, taking the ozone hole with it.”
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/news/factsheets/HALOE-Ozone.html
“Figure 4 shows the relationship between the Vortex Vanishing Date and the Ozone Hole Vanishing Date. The relationship between the ozone hole and vortex vanishing dates is such that the longer the vortex lasts the closer the ozone hole vanishing date is to the vortex vanishing date. Unlike 2008 in which both dates were longer than any previous year, the dates for 2009 are in the “middle of the pack”.”
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/stratosphere/winter_bulletins/sh_09/Fig_4.gif
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/stratosphere/winter_bulletins/sh_09/