Opsommer introduces resolution
State Rep. Paul Opsommer, R-DeWitt, criticized the latest Kyoto Protocol meeting, known as COP-17, for not doing more to stress that chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) found in asthma medications pose no credible risk to the atmosphere.
Opsommer also took the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to task for continuing to push for a ban on the CFC propellant when used in small amounts for emergency asthma treatment, despite the fact that the greenhouse gas meeting ended without putting any real obligation on the United States to do so.
The ban, scheduled to go into effect at the end of the year, will likely cause the manufacturer of the only over-the-counter emergency asthma medication to stop making the product because the costs involved to comply are too costly and will price them out of the market.
“The frequent efforts to harmonize the regulations of the United States with other countries is something all elected leaders need to pay close attention to,” Opsommer said. “But what we continue to see is that what can’t be done by a ratified treaty is more and more still taking place behind the scenes by unelected bureaucrats. There is no doubt in my mind that real people will die without this over-the-counter treatment available, and that sacrifice will be for nothing other than for international relations and a small hypothetical risk.”
Opsommer, who is against United States ratification of the treaty and who was a critic of former Governor Granholm’s attempts to bypass the Legislature with foreign greenhouse gas agreements, said that after 17 failed meetings that the Kyoto Agreement appeared dead.
But while the asthma drug will still be available by prescription, the ban will take away an important over-the-counter safety valve in emergency situations.
“When you can’t breathe, you don’t always make it to the emergency room,” said Opsommer. “Whether they are in between prescription refills, on vacation, or have misplaced their regular inhaler people need to be able to have these on-hand.”
Even prescription users have seen significant price jumps, as the previously generic inhalers have now been deemed as new “brand name” drugs simply because of the use of the non-CFC propellant.
Opsommer said he introduced House Resolution 171 to ask Congress to intervene with the FDA to remove the ban for medication purposes, and said that the United States should not be basing its regulations on proposed foreign standards.
Opsommer also criticized some of the similar announcements President Obama was making to harmonize other laws and regulations in the United States between Canada and Mexico that go well beyond NAFTA.
“This is a game I am starting to see played too many times,” said Opsommer. “Whether it is mandatory standard equipment in our cars, RFID chips in our drivers licenses, or bans on our medications, international influence on our laws is resulting in less freedom and higher prices for United States citizens. It simply has to stop.”
Opsommer said that there was little time between the outcome of the conference and when the ban would go into effect, but that he would continue to push for a hearing on HR 171 next year to try to encourage manufacturers to stay in the marketplace.