Anesthetic Gases Heats Climate as Much as One Million Cars,

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/101203081644.htm

ScienceDaily (Dec. 3, 2010) — When doctors want their patients asleep during surgery, they gently turn the gas tap. But anesthetic gasses have a global warming potential as high as a refrigerant that is on its way to be banned in the European Union. Yet there is no obligation to report anesthetic gasses along with other greenhouse gasses such as carbon dioxide, refrigerants and laughing gas.

One kilogram of anesthetic gas affects the climate as much as 1,620 kilos of CO2. That has been shown by a recent study carried out by chemists from University of Copenhagen and NASA in collaboration with anesthesiologists from the University of Michigan Medical School. The amount of gas needed for a single surgical procedure is not high, but in the US alone surgery related anesthetics affected the climate as much as would one million cars.

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