Climate pollution from inhalers has the impact of half a million cars per year, study finds

Millions of Americans use metered-dose inhalers to treat conditions like asthma. Westend61/Getty Images

The people who are most vulnerable to the hard-to-breathe air that comes with climate change may inadvertently be adding to the problem, new research finds.

About 34 million Americans have a chronic lung disease, including 28 million who have asthma, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America – and the number is expected to grow as higher temperatures bring more weather phenomena that trigger breathing issues like droughts, floods and wildfires.

To treat conditions like asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, millions of Americans use what doctors often call metered dose inhalers, small boot-shaped devices that spray set doses of medication into the lungs