Health committee  Yes, thank you, Madam Chair. I agree with the summary statements of the last few moments that we need to have a comprehensive plan for the short term and the longer term. While I'm always in favour of research and development, and while I am hesitant to criticize what is bei

Health committee  Yes, and I-131 is one of those isotopes. Technetium is also helpful at certain times.

Health committee  I'd have to break that down into separate parts. For radioiodine therapy of thyroid cancer and for benign thyroid conditions, I think there will be enough, because these are not conditions that routinely present as emergencies or even as urgent. Much of our use of isotopes is a

Health committee  I'd like to address that from the point of view of what we call the ALARA principle. The International Commission on Radiological Protection has written since 1928 the document on which all countries in the world base their radiation safety practices. The ALARA principle says tha

Health committee  To repeat something of what I said earlier, I was assured a very short time ago—last week, I think—that there would be no shortage of I-131. In the last two days, I've been hearing that there is a shortage this week, and you've been hearing that this is true. I have had a number

Health committee  I don't know the document by name, but I know that major studies have been done to look at the functioning of MAPLE. But we don't have a direct, expert opinion, given in an understandable way, on the potential for MAPLE to function. We're getting mixed messages.

Health committee  Madam Chair, I don't really know enough about the details of what was in the grants to comment. I have read some background documentation that suggests that in three to five years we might have a model for cyclotron-produced isotopes, but I think it would still take some years be

Health committee  Madam Chair, I suspect the documentation already exists. We just need to find it, read it, and be comforted by it in some way. I would be pleased to see what is forthcoming.

Health committee  Thank you, Madam Chair. I would like to approach my comments here from two levels. The first level comes from something someone said to me earlier: “It seems we're trying to do surgery with boxing gloves on.” The development of the technology to produce isotopes is one that ta