Albuterol is a short acting medication... that's used to help people with asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, to breathe easier.

This prescription is essential for many of these patients, but it poses a serious threat to the environment.

There are 15 to 20 million people in this country that struggle with asthma. While an Albuterol inhaler is the most common prescription to help these people breathe more easily there is concern that some of its components can be damaging to the environment.

"The old inhalers have an ingredient called CFCs or Chlorofluorocarbon, which acts as the propellant of the inhaler. The propellant basically helps the medication escape from the inhaler when a person takes a dose," said Audrey Imberg, a clinical pharmacy resident at SMDC.

The newer inhalers are undergoing an eco–friendly face–lift.

"The CFC is being replaced by a different ingredient called Hydro Fluoro Alkane, or HFA."

The problem with CFC is the association with the depletion of the Earth's ozone layer, which protects us from the harmful UV rays emitted from the sun, this is why the ban started decades ago.

"The US signed a treaty to remove CFC from all of their products including medications. The trouble is that since albuterol is such an important medication for people with asthma and other lung conditions that you couldn't remove it from the market that quickly. We needed to take time to find another propellant that couple replace the CFC as effectively."

If you have a CFC– containing inhaler at home, you can use it until it's gone or expired, but as of at the end of this year, they will be banned from being sold in the United States.

"Even though they might taste differently, they might feel differently, they might even smell differently from their old inhalers, if taken care of properly and used correctly, they should work just the same and are just as safe as their old inhalers."

Since this is a new medication, only brand names are available, and they are a bit more expensive... But know that this is an added cost to increase the value of our environment.

In Duluth, meteorologist Shannon 9Murphy, the Northland's NewsCenter.

If you have any questions about the new HFA inhalers, you should talk to your pharmacist, and they can also review with you inhalation methods and proper care of the device since these new HFA inhalers must be cleaned and primed often.