Surgery Center of Oklahoma Blog

The FDA ( one of the most corrupt parts of the federal government) announced this past Thursday that in an effort to protect the ozone layer, cheap epinephrine asthma inhalers, available over the counter, will be banned.  Only the prescription inhalers containing albuterol will be available.  This will triple the cost for the occasional asthmatic that needs relief, forcing them to use drugs they will not have immediate access to at prices many cannot afford.  Seriously, if someone is treating their asthma with Primatene, they probably are poor and can’t afford albuterol, much less a doctor’s visit.  Keep in mind that the epinephrine inhalers have been used for decades and are known to be safe for patient use.  It is the infamous “ozone layer” the FDA is concerned about. 

In one of the most outrageous displays of callous disregard for human beings I have ever seen, Badrul Chowdhury, the director of the FDA’s pulmonary division, said “…in the worst case scenario we are looking at 1 to 2 million people using Primatene.”  I think he meant that 1 to 2 million people was not a significant number of people.  If so, why not leave them alone?  He can’t leave them alone and simultaneously  maintain the consistency of what many believe is the  ozone lie.  To admit that a little bit of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) are not a bad or significant thing is to admit that the whole ozone scare is a hoax.  Interestingly, Dupont’s initial opposition to the anti-CFC legislation suddenly vaporized once they had two new patents in hand that allowed the government to grant them a monopoly on coolant sales (don’t think any money changed hands on that one do you?).   I’m continually amazed at how the “green” leftists unwittingly line the pockets of the crony capitalists they supposedly hate. 

This is yet another example where concerns like the “environment” or “society” or “the greater good” trump  the individual and the rights of individuals.  This is the operational ethic of HMO’s and of government managed health care.  Multiple intermediaries interfere with the normal doctor patient relationship and with the collection of the funds for the care given.  This disenfranchisement of the patient is always done with the idea that some brilliant but remote person knows better than the patient and their doctor about what is needed in any given situation. 

In this case, some brilliant all-knowing, life and death giving thug has decided that the preservation of the ozone myth trumps that of the lives of 1 or 2 million people.  This government brown shirt will probably hide behind some EPA law or the Montreal Protocol and wash his hands of the brutal fate awaiting the asthmatic poor.  And these clowns claim to be concerned about the cost of health care?  This is how governments kill people.  Maybe killing the sick is part of the plan to balance the budget.  After all, what’s 1 to 2 million people anyway?

G. Keith Smith, M.D.