Sexy or not, let's fix the problem.

The use of 'sexy' is not really the issue -- the term, while not appropriate, was said in the context of a private meeting as part of actually fixing the problem.

Fixing a problem and getting credit is ok -- generally when I do a job I am doing it for a benefit (for me money but for a politician credit).

The problem isn't the language -- the problem is that the problem (sexy or not) didn't get fixed.

And so we face a shortage (which spreads worldwide) of necessary isotopes. This hurts Canadians and Canada's international reputation.

So, let's fix the problem and stop arguing over the language used to describe it.

From the Montreal Gazette

"The government does not seem to be able to recognize this catastrophe," François Lamoureux, president of the Quebec Association of Nuclear Medicine Specialists, told MPs on a Commons committee studying the 4-week-old medical isotope shortage. "First of all, they denied there was a crisis. Now it's described as sexy. How sad. How sad to be a Canadian."

The president of the Canadian Nuclear Medicine Association warned MPs that doctors were being forced to treat Canadian patients with 20-year-old technologies because of the isotope crisis.

"The announcement last month of the prolonged shutdown of the NRU reactor is a real catastrophe for the 2 million nuclear medicine patients in Canada but also for the credibility of the Canadian nuclear technology industry," CNMA president Dr. Jean-Luc Urbain said.

"The chronic and acute shortage of medical isotopes is neither a funny nor sexy story. It is a real drama that we have to live with our patients on a daily basis."

From the National on CBC

DR. CHRISTOPHER O'BRIEN (ONTARIO ASSOCIATION OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE):

We've been able at least to minimize disruptions, but it's a last-minute... it's almost as if we're only at the 11th hour deciding if we can do something or not.

KRISTA ERICKSON (REPORTER):

The government response? There are other ways to test.

LEONA AGLUKKAQ (MINISTER OF HEALTH):

There are other alternatives that are available, and over 50 percent of the uses of TC-99 are for heart scans. Thallium can be used as an alternative in many of these cases.

KRISTA ERICKSON (REPORTER):

But there's something about thallium the minister didn't mention. Doctors have been using it to test for heart disease during the shortage, but it too is now in short supply.

DR. CHRISTOPHER O'BRIEN (ONTARIO ASSOCIATION OF NUCLEAR MEDICINE):

One of our clinics south of here had to cancel two... three heart patients today because of insufficient supply of thallium.

KRISTA ERICKSON (REPORTER):

Doctors say this week will be the worst of the crisis so far with isotopes supplies reduced to about 35 percent of normal levels. They say patients should brace themselves for the cancellations they've been able to avoid until now. Krista Erickson, CBC News, Ottawa.

James Morton
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