The future is now—it’s time to rethink the application of the Global Warming Potential to anesthesia
May 8, 2019
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Canadian Journal of Anesthesia/Journal Canadien d
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Timur J.-P. Ozelsel MD, Rakesh V. Sondekoppam MD & Karen Buro PhD
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66:1291–1295.
All volatile anesthetic agents are fluorocarbons and variably potent greenhouse gases (GHG).1 As a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC), isoflurane also has ozone depleting potential (as does nitrous oxide [N2O]), while sevoflurane and desflurane, being hydrofluorocarbons (HFC), do not.1 The global emission of HFCs increased 128% from 1990 to 2005 and is projected by 2030 to increase a further 336% compared with 2005 emissions.2 The Montreal Protocol is an international treaty agreed upon in 1987 with t