{"id":246780,"date":"2023-03-04T13:04:37","date_gmt":"2023-03-04T12:04:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=246780"},"modified":"2023-03-04T13:04:51","modified_gmt":"2023-03-04T12:04:51","slug":"scotland-first-to-ban-environmentally-harmful-anaesthetic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=246780","title":{"rendered":"Scotland first to ban environmentally harmful anaesthetic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Paul Homewood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

h\/t George Heraghty\/Wilson Flood<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to describe just how appalling and irresponsible this decision is:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Scotland has become the first country in the world to stop its hospitals using the anaesthetic desflurane because of the threat it poses to the environment.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NHS data suggests the gas, used to keep people unconscious during surgery, has a global warming potential 2,500 times greater than carbon dioxide.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Banning it in Scotland \u2013 from its peak use in 2017 \u2013 would cut emissions equal to powering 1,700 homes a year.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

UK hospitals have already cut down.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the last few years, more than 40 hospital trusts in England and a number of hospitals in Wales have stopped using it.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

NHS England will introduce a similar ban<\/em><\/a> from 2024, which \u2013 like Scotland \u2013 prohibits its use for anything but exceptional circumstances.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Banning it across NHS hospitals in England would cut harmful emissions equivalent to those caused by powering 11,000 homes every year, according to NHS analysis of desflurane use in 2020.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other countries, including many in Europe, are likely to make similar moves in the next few years.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Kenneth Barker, anaesthetist and clinical lead for Scotland\u2019s <\/em>national green theatres programme<\/em><\/a>, said he was shocked to find the anaesthetic drug he had used for more than a decade for many major and routine operations was so harmful to the environment.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I realised in 2017 that the amount of desflurane we used in a typical day\u2019s work as an anaesthetist resulted in emissions equivalent to me driving 670 miles that day,” he said.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I decided to stop using it straight away and many fellow anaesthetists have got on board.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

“When you are faced with something as obvious as this and with the significance it has to the environment \u2013 I am very glad we have got to this stage.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many hospitals have switched to safe and effective anaesthetic gases with less warming potential such as sevoflurane, which has a global warming potential 130 times that of carbon dioxide, or to using alternative non-gaseous anaesthetics and more efficient equipment.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scottish Health and Social Care Secretary, Humza Yousaf, said: “Programmes like this are key to our transition to become a net-zero health service, whilst ensuring patient safety remains at the heart of every clinical decision.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/news\/health-64347191<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anaesthetics should only be picked on purely medical grounds, and no other. There was obviously a good reason for picking desflurane in the first place, whether effectiveness, safety or simply cost. Thosze good reasons should not simply be passed over for political reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In any event, its contribution to GHGs is infinitesimal, if it is only equivalent to 11,000 homes. That is 0.04% of all UK homes, and around 0.01% of total UK emissions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally I would find it frightening if I heard the guy about to operate on me spouting the nonsense of Dr Kenneth Barker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Scotland has become the first country in the world to stop its hospitals using the anaesthetic desflurane because of the threat it poses to the environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121246920,"featured_media":246786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-246780","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-uncategorized","9":"fallback-thumbnail"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-151.png?fit=1200%2C600&ssl=1","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paxLW1-12ck","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":246881,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=246881","url_meta":{"origin":246780,"position":0},"title":"Scotland Just Banned a Surgical Anaesthetic Because of Climate Change","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"04\/03\/2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Scotland first to ban environmentally harmful anaesthetic","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-186.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-186.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-186.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-186.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/image-186.png?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":436747,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=436747","url_meta":{"origin":246780,"position":1},"title":"QLD Hospitals to Tackle Climate Change by Not Discarding Precious Metals","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"02\/04\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Who knew hospital waste dumpsters were potentially full of gold and platinum?","rel":"","context":"In \"anaesthetic gasses\"","block_context":{"text":"anaesthetic gasses","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?tag=anaesthetic-gasses"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-QLD-Hospitals-to-Tackle-Climate-Change-by-Not-Discarding-Precious-Metals.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-QLD-Hospitals-to-Tackle-Climate-Change-by-Not-Discarding-Precious-Metals.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-QLD-Hospitals-to-Tackle-Climate-Change-by-Not-Discarding-Precious-Metals.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/climatescience.press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/0-QLD-Hospitals-to-Tackle-Climate-Change-by-Not-Discarding-Precious-Metals.jpg?fit=784%2C1168&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":202998,"url":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=202998","url_meta":{"origin":246780,"position":2},"title":"Climate Change \u2013 Is It Time to Say Goodbye to Inhaled Anaesthesia?","author":"uwe.roland.gross","date":"05\/06\/2022","format":false,"excerpt":"[I can\u2019t even\u2026charles] Inhaled anaesthetic gases are potent greenhouse gases, with effects up to thousands of times more potent than carbon dioxide; 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