Natural Resources committee  Mr. Chairman, members of the committee, on behalf of the Canadian Association of Nuclear Medicine, I would first like to thank you all for giving our organization the opportunity to appear before you to discuss the scarcity of medical isotopes. It is with mixed feelings and emotions that Dr.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you very much. I'll try to be brief for the rest of my presentation. What I was saying is that the absence of PET technology has already taken its toll on Canadians, and I must say that I have never seen as many advanced cancers in my career as over the past six years of practice in Canada.

Natural Resources committee  Thank you for the question, Mrs. Bennett. We have an outstanding group of medical imagers in this room, and we all work in concert. With your approval, I will ask Dr. Gulenchyn to answer your question. Karen.

Natural Resources committee  I think I'll ask--

Natural Resources committee  Okay.

Natural Resources committee  Well, the difficulty in Canada, as you know, is that the regulatory body is at the federal level, and the dispensation of the health care is at the provincial level, and it's very difficult to coordinate and strategize for each province.

Natural Resources committee  There are two aspects to your question. One is the thallium issue. I have to say that images with thallium are pretty good in today's world because the equipment has made a lot of progress. It's not the ideal trace, for the reason that I've mentioned, but it's a good temporary alternative.

Natural Resources committee  Except that they've looked at them expeditiously, the answer is no.

Natural Resources committee  I'm not confident at all. To the contrary, it was very clear from the OECD meeting in Paris in January that the chain of supply is very complex. In case of a shortage, we do not know if we indeed are going to go into a bidding war, which is definitely likely. As I mentioned in my report, over the past 18 months we have seen five or six shortages of isotopes.

Natural Resources committee  Yes. I think the statement was indeed accurate.

Natural Resources committee  I think the situation is worse in this current crisis.

Natural Resources committee  With respect to your first question, which pertained to the shortage, and supply, I mentioned earlier the OECD meeting held in Paris at the end of January at the behest of the Canadian government. It was very clear that there was no meaningful cooperation at the international level.

Natural Resources committee  In fact the supply is probably a little higher, because in 2007 the Dutch reactor was not on line. It only came on line last year. Let me give you a picture in terms of death and life. Picture a patient who is waiting for a myocardial perfusion assessment, a myocardial scintigraphy study assessment, in order to decide if he's going to need a triple or quadruple bypass surgery, being told, “We are sorry, but we cannot perform this test because today we don't have isotopes.”

Natural Resources committee  There are so many things we have been facing over the past few weeks and months that I don't recall exactly where I was that day, but as I said, over the past 18 months we have lived through five or six shortages of isotopes, being told overnight that tomorrow you're only going to get 60% of your quota.

Natural Resources committee  First of all, I'd like to verify the origin of that statement. I've read it, like you, in the press. At times, several of my colleagues also put statements into my mouth that I never made. If those statements were made, I think they are irresponsible.