End Dependence On Foreign...Isotopes

There is an isotope, technetium-99, that is used in a wide variety of medical tests and procedures for a number of diseases including heart disease, cancer and gallbladder. One nuclear reactor in Canada supplies all of the isotope used in North America. The reactor shut down almost a month ago for routine maintenance. It was supposed to be down for five days; now they're saying it'll be closed until February. This means that everyday, people who need certain tests can't have them because they're having to decide who needs to be scanned on an emergency basis and who can wait. I know I received this on at least two occasions last spring, once during scanning and once during surgery. It was hard enough to get those appointments scheduled then, I can't imagine having to figure in an international isotope shortage. Or being told that you have cancer, but we're not sure how far it's spread and it'll be a couple of months before we can do the scan to tell you. That wouldn't have gone over well with me at all!