[ RadSafe ] shortage of tech 99

[garyi at trinityphysics.com]

Bill and Stephane,

I am sorry to disagree with you both, but Greens are in fact largely responsible for this 
shortage of medical isotopes.  Greens (or environmentalists or whatever label you favor) 
have for years, decades in fact, vigourously lobbied governments to make specific energy 
and nuclear policy decisions.  They have also worked tirelessly to change public ideas about 
radiation and nuclear reactors, and the isotope shortage is just one result of all this passion 
and effort.  Sadly though, it is certainly not the most harmful result.

You both speak of government and political problems as root causes, and make it sound very 
vague, like blaming random weather patterns for something.   But politicians do not make 
random decisions.  They make decisions by calculating the path of greatest political gain, and 
such decisions are powerfully influenced by trends in public opinion.  They can also be 
influenced by some well placed money, but that's a post for a different listserv.

Certainly there have been other factors, but it seems unbelievable that any other factor could 
have been stronger than this decades long crusade by well meaning fools.

-Gary Isenhower



On 27 Jul 2009 at 11:25, Bill Prestwich wrote:

Stephane is absolutely correct. The result in Canada has been largely
the result of political problems, and the inability to get the Maple
reactors operable. This is now compounded by the government decision
to cancel the Maple project altogether. Interestingly enough, while
there has been plenty of press coverage here, I have neither seen nor
heard any mention of the fact that a Maple is up and running in South
Korea. Bill Prestwich

"Jean-Francois, Stephane" wrote:

> Hi Franz,
>
> I disagree with your statement putting the onus on the "greens".
>
> I did have the opportunity to comment the very beginning of the
> crisis in Canada in a big Montreal news paper(end of 2007, beginning
> 2008). The problem was that our Federal governement took care of
> business and fired nothing but the President of the Nuclear Safety
> Commission, ms. Linda Keen. They claimed that her organization was
> asking too much of the reactor operator (safety measures) and she
> was responsible of putting the patients at risk.
>
> At that time , our "good goverment" was saying that they were doing
> this for the good of the patients. I wrote to tell them that going
> against  the canadian nuclear watchdog sent a very negative message
> to the population (who can you trust if the government can shut down
> the watchdog ?)  and was asking in my letter as a conclusion,  only
> one simple question: If you care about patients, where is your
> contingency plan ? The reactor is old, it will not go on for
> ever...where is your back-up plan ?  Of course, they don't have any,
> we see this today... and obviously nobody in this industry seems to
> have one either.
>
> Blame the politics Franz, not the Greens...that was too easy.Please
> note, I am all for nuclear and medicine, but sadly,  we need a
> crisis like this one to set the record straight and send a political
> message to our deciders.
>
> Stéphane Jean-François, Eng., M. Env., CHP
> Manager, Environment and Health Physics Services
> Canada Site Functions
> (514) 428-8695
> (514) 428-8670 (FAX)
> stephane_jeanfrancois at merck.com
> www.merckfrosst.com
> Merck Frosst Center for Therapeutic Research
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl [mailto:radsafe-bounces at radlab.nl]
> On Behalf Of Franz Schönhofer Sent: Friday, July 24, 2009 4:21 PM
> To: 'conrad gmail'; radsafe at radlab.nl Subject: AW: [ RadSafe ]
> shortage of tech 99
>
> Conrad,
>
> Thank you for forwarding these news, though they are alarming. But
> obviously not alarming enough to create a corresponding echo on
> RADSAFE!
>
> Since the research reactor in Seibersdorf, Austria shut down, which
> produced not only Tc-99m (or rather its parent nuclide), but also
> for example other radionuclides for instance for synoviortesis,
> radionuclides needed in technical applications like iridium, co-60
> or others, there are problems. One can import radionuclides from
> foreign countries. Not to talk about the addition costs this is most
> often not possible for short lived radionuclides or would enhance
> the radiation dose to the handler abroad, because much higher
> activities have to be handled and shipped!
>
> Similar problems abound(ed) in Australia. Have they been solved?
>
> Thanks to those "greens" and "friends of mankind" it might be
> possible that people die, because their acute heart diseases cannot
> be discovered due to lack of suitable radionuclides.
>
> Best regards,
>
> Franz7
>
> Franz Schoenhofer, PhD
>