[ RadSafe ] Article: Radioactive medical deliveries face new delays

[John Jacobus]

I saw this in another e-mail service I get, and
thought it would be of interest.
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Radioactive medical deliveries face new delays
5/11/2006
By: Reuters Health

VIENNA (Reuters), May 11 - A growing unwillingness of
shippers to deliver radioactive medical materials due
to rising costs and safety fears since the September
11 attacks is threatening healthcare in some
countries, experts said on Wednesday.

One European state is now refusing air shipments of
medical isotopes with a shelf life of 24 hours, they
said. Elsewhere, these supplies may travel three times
the direct distance between countries because of
detours imposed by shippers who have pulled out to
escape climbing regulatory costs. 

In one case, a supplier needed six months to hire
transport for a radioactive medication, typically used
in diagnosis and treatment -- for especially for
cancer, between two European states. 

What the experts called "a critical need to resolve
refusals of some shippers" to deliver nuclear medical
aids, especially by sea, is the topic of a conference
this week at the International Atomic Energy Agency
headquarters in Vienna. 

"We need to deal with this problem before we reach the
point of patients dying because of it," said Jim
Stewart, radiological transport adviser in the British
government. 

"(We can get about) 100 reports of denied shipment in
three months and that's not a comprehensive picture.
We've only started dealing with this issue. Something
dramatic needs to be done. The problem is getting
worse," he told a news briefing. 

Industry experts could not say whether any patients
had died because radioactive medical aids arrived too
late or not at all. They declined to name countries at
issue or give examples of patients affected by delays,
citing reasons of confidentiality. 

They also said none of the known hold-ups resulted
from security alerts of possible diversions of
isotopes into making nuclear "dirty bombs," saying the
industry had an exemplary transport safety record for
four decades. 

Medical care at stake

But they suggested it was only a matter of time before
delivery delays invited medical crises in some
countries, especially in the Mediterranean and
Asia-Pacific regions. 

"Delays predate September 11 but may have been
exacerbated by it. These products have a short shelf
life so transport has to operate like clockwork (to
benefit patients)," said Paul Gray of Canadian medical
isotope producer MDS Nordion. 

"There is no short-term solution in sight," said
Michael Wangler, an IAEA transport safety official.
But he said the IAEA had begun a database to assess
the breadth of delays and would offer training to
shippers to spur them to take on deliveries. 

Gray said tens of thousands of radioactive medication
shipments are made yearly for 70-80 million cases of
treatment. 

Worst affected by holdups has been cobalt-60, a
nuclear isotope used to sterilize half the world's
medical products such as gloves, gowns, sutures, and
catheters. 

The problem is compounded by the small number of
medical isotope producers worldwide -- half a dozen
for radiological cancer aids, and just two producers
of cobalt-60, Gray said. 

David Brennan, a senior official on dangerous goods
and safety issues at the International Air Transport
Association, representing 260 airlines, said
heightened security concerns since September 11 had
magnified isotope transport costs. 

By Mark Heinrich 

Last Updated: 2006-05-10 16:33:57 -0400 (Reuters
Health)

Copyright © 2006 Reuters Limited. 


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"People will be shocked to see how safe it is to live in New York City."
ANDREW KARMEN, a sociology professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, on murder trends in the city.

-- John
John Jacobus, MS
Certified Health Physicist
e-mail:  crispy_bird at yahoo.com

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