[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[House]
[Page 11434]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




        LISA JACKSON AND PRESIDENT OBAMA WAGE WAR ON ASTHMATICS

  (Mr. BURGESS asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BURGESS. Mr. Speaker, this year, a common over-the-counter 
emergency asthma inhaler was forced off the pharmacy shelves due to an 
international treaty agreement. Now, patients who suffer from asthma 
and who find themselves awake at 2 a.m. with unexpected attacks and who 
don't have access to immediate inhalers, well, they've got a problem. 
It used to be a problem they could solve with a quick trip down to the 
24-hour pharmacy. Now they have to go to the emergency room.
  Although a replacement inhaler has been before the FDA's approval 
board, they've taken no action. When the ban on the available over-the-
counter inhaler went into effect, most people expected the replacement 
would be available with no disruption, but this has not been the case. 
Because of the FDA's intransigence, our patients have nowhere to go.
  I don't know why the FDA has not acted. I've asked them. They won't 
tell me. There is a simple solution:
  The Environmental Protection Agency has within its authority the 
ability to waive the ban on the over-the-counter inhaler, allowing 
existing stock to be sold. Yet, despite multiple letters to the EPA and 
to President Obama and despite questions during committee hearings, 
they remain unresponsive.
  Why has the EPA not approved the waiver? Again, you'll have to ask 
them. They are not telling me.
  The minuscule number of chlorofluorocarbons that exists in the over-
the-counter inhaler will have negligible affects on our ozone layer, 
especially considering the limited supply left.
  The EPA should be on the side of the patients. Lisa Jackson and 
President Obama need to stop this senseless war on asthmatics.

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