Providers dropping common anesthesia drug that’s also a climate super pollutant

Summary

One of the challenges for reducing emissions from anesthesia is a lack of monitoring and reporting. The US doesn’t require detailed greenhouse gas emissions reporting from the health care sector. “You need to count and know where the opportunity is to be able to implement solutions,” Sherman said. Based on her ongoing research, anesthesiologist Seema Gandhi, the medical director of sustainability at the University of California San Francisco Health, said the use of desflurane and nitrous oxide for anesthesia in the US has declined since 2018. Gandhi chairs the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ Committee on Environmental Health, which publishes guidelines for greenhouse gas emissions reductions. The group has helped raise the profile of anesthesia’s climate impact and the potential for emissions reductions. However, not everyone agrees. A paper published in the academic journal Anesthesia & Analgesia in July argued that the climate impact of desflurane emissions was not significant and suggested that more harm may come from withholding the drug from patients. The paper’s lead author acknowledged receiving “speakers and consultancy honoraria” from Baxter International, a pharmaceutical company that manufactures desflurane. “It is important to highlight that there is no universal anesthetic agent which suits the needs of all patients,” a spokesperson for Baxter said in a written statement to Inside Climate News. “Anesthesiologists recommend the best anesthesia option for each patient, depending on state of health, other medical conditions and the type of surgery–and so protecting availability and choice of anesthetic agents is important to maintain high-quality patient care.” Sherman, of Yale University, said there is nothing unique about desflurane that can’t be accomplished with other medications. “There really is no medical necessity,” Sherman said. The EU regulation follows similar measures in Scotland and England in recent years. Gandhi said that implementing...