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The Conservative government defended its record on Canada’s nuclear medicine shortage on two fronts Tuesday, promising money to find alternatives and denying reports that MAPLE reactors the government abandoned ever made useful isotopes.
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced $6 million in funding to find substitutes for the nuclear medicines Canada suddenly lacks, thanks to the emergency shutdown of the Chalk River reactor.
The substitutes may include other radioactive materials, or even non-radioactive ones that can be used in specialized diagnostic tests and treatments, she said. The research grants will come through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and will begin flowing in October.
Alternative materials to replace the Chalk River isotopes look good in theory, but haven’t been sufficiently proven, said Dr. Sandy McEwen, chair of the oncology department at the University of Alberta. He’s serving as an adviser to Aglukkaq on the current nuclear-medicine issue. He told reporters that with the new funding, “we really have an opportunity to fast-track” research.
Aglukkaq was asked whether Canada can count on Australia as a source of nuclear medicines, through a deal she announced Monday to help replace Canada’s domestic supply. Australia has suffered shortages too.
“We’ve been assured that a supply will come to Canada,” she said.
The Ontario government also announced Tuesday that it would spend $1.4 million for the production of an alternative isotope called Sodium Fluoride (18F). This alternative will be used in conjunction with six existing Positron Emission Tomography centres across the province, including the Ottawa Hospital.
Meanwhile, Natural Resources Minister Lisa Raitt wrote to the Citizen to dispute claims by MDS Nordion, which makes nuclear medicines using materials from Chalk River.
MDS Nordion said last week that two new MAPLE reactors at the Chalk River site produced good medical isotopes when they were being tested. The MAPLEs were built to replace the shut-down NRU reactor.
Not so, the minister wrote.
“Some isotope targets were … irradiated. But no medical isotopes were ever produced. There were serious technical problems preventing the facility from meeting regulatory requirements and going safely into service.”
© Copyright 2009 The Ottawa Citizen