Anaesthetic gasses also contribute to global warming: Scientists
December 4th, 2010 - 3:17 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Dec 4 (ANI): Atmosphere scientists have warned that anaesthetic gasses that are conveniently used during surgeries have a global warming potential.
These gases are as harmful for the environment as a refrigerant, yet they are not reported along with other greenhouse gasses such as CO2, refrigerants and laughing gas.
University of Copenhagen researchers and NASA scientists found that one-kilo of anaesthetic gas affects the climate as much as 1620 kilos of CO2.
“We studied three different gasses in regular use for anaesthesia, and they’re not equally harmful,” said Ole John Nielsen of the University of Copenhagen.
All three are worse than CO2 but where the mildest ones Isoflurane and Sevoflurane have global warming potentials of 210 and 510 respectively, Desflurane the most harmful will cause 1620 times as much global warming as an equal amount of CO2, he explained.
The study was published in the journal British Journal of Anaestecia. (ANI)
- Anaesthetic agent major contributor to global warming: Study - Jul 02, 2010
- Cutting carbon concentrations can prevent drought - Mar 25, 2011
- 2 severe Amazon droughts in 5 years stir climate fear - Feb 04, 2011
- How anaesthesia disturbs self-perception - Jan 20, 2011
- How CO2 can be used to impregnate plastics - Jan 04, 2011
- Global warming threat to tropical rainforests exaggerated - Nov 14, 2010
- "Supervillain" CO2 has "henchmen" like NO2 and methane to amplify global warming - Sep 09, 2009
- Low-carbon technology can't fix global warming - Feb 16, 2012
- Thawing arctic soil may release greenhouse gases - Nov 07, 2011
- Evidence confirms CO2 spikes ended ice age - Apr 08, 2012
- Forests remove 2.4 bn tonnes of carbon from air - Aug 11, 2011
- Climate changes will be rapid if warming continues - Dec 09, 2011
- Scientist offers better ways to engineer Earth's climate to prevent global warming - Sep 08, 2010
- 'Dry water' could offer new way to absorb and store CO2, fight global warming - Aug 26, 2010
- Switching to natural gas won't slow climate change - Sep 09, 2011
Tags: anaesthesia, atmosphere, climate, gases, global warming potential, greenhouse, isoflurane, john nielsen, kilo, laughing gas, nasa, nasa scientists, refrigerant, refrigerants, sevoflurane, university of copenhagen