TORONTO - The government of Canada plans to spend $6 million (Canadian) ($5.3 million U.S.) to find alternatives to radioactive isotopes currently in short supply due to the shutdown of a nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ontario.
Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq on June 16 said the money would fund research into alternatives that don't involve the use of isotopes produced in nuclear reactors. The research will be conducted through a partnership between the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Council of Canada (NSERC).
The funding is designed to advance research into alternative medical isotopes that could replace technetium-99m in certain medical imaging procedures, and support the production and clinical testing of these alternatives, the government said. Nuclear medicine physicians have been scrambling to find alternatives to technetium-99m due to a cutoff in shipments of its parent isotope, molybdenum-99, following a water leak at the nuclear reactor that produces half of North America's supply.
In other news, the government of Ontario said it would provide $1.4 million (Canadian) ($1.2 million U.S.) to produce sodium fluoride, which can be used to perform PET studies for bone scans in place of technetium-based SPECT exams. The funding will be used in an eight-week clinical study to examine the utility of sodium fluoride-based bone scans, according to an article in the Globe and Mail.
Related Reading
Society of Nuclear Medicine issues Medical Isotope Communiqué, June 16, 2009
Canada cites dangers in abandoned isotope reactors as major reactor remains down, June 16, 2009
Moly crisis overshadows SNM Image of the Year award, June 15, 2009
SNM poll: Isotope shortage affecting users, procedures, June 15, 2009
MDS urges Canada to restart Maple reactor project, June 12, 2009
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