Topic: Access to Medical Isotopes
Country: Bangladesh
Delegate Name: Kate Dann
School: Forest Hills Eastern High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Bangladesh position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
Medical isotopes allow doctors and scientists to clearly view their patients’ internal systems and can aid in the fight against cancerous tumors while also furthering scientific research. The radioactive isotopes helped improved treatment of cancer by being sent directly to the tumors and therefore working effectively against it while doing minimal damage to surrounding tissue. Further research could be successful regarding the use of medical isotopes and the fight against HIV. Test injections of certain isotopes into mice infected with HIV have shown success in diminishing the amount of infected cells due to the radioactive decay. There are five main nuclear reactors that produce well over half of the medical isotopes available in the world and these reactors are all close to shutting down, whether it be temporarily or for permanently, due to their age. The most abundant medical isotope produced is molybdenum (Mo-99) which decays into technetium (Tc-99). When the decay of technetium occurs, radiation given off by it can detect diseases and tumors, therefore enhancing one’s medical treatment and expanding their life.The nuclear reactors responsible for producing the isotopes are fundamental for the scientific field because they are responsible for producing the demanded isotopes. Some reactors also produce highly enriched uranium (HEU) which enhances the images produced by the isotopes, though they aren’t necessarily needed because they don’t provide any other gain for the doctors or scientists besides a clearer image; without the HEUs, the images would still be seen.These HEUs could be used for terrorist actions due to their strong radioactivity however, so security risks are present. With any radioactive materials, there is the potential threat of them being stolen or gone missing and has happened in the past.The World Health Organization believes that the need to maintain a balance between the security risks and the demand for the products is necessary. The WHO looks at the medical side of the radioactive materials. They are imperative to benefit society and the ill, which forces society to find a balance between the potential security threats and the benefits of building more reactors to make more medical isotopes.
As the medical research field expands in many different fields of study, the isotope reactors are important to construct and upkeep.They provide the necessary products to help medical patients while also helping further research of HIV, cancer, and other diseases. As many isotopes are generally short lived, production needs to keep up with the growing demands and continuously provide science and the people. Bangladesh plans to build two of its own nuclear reactors by 2025 as proposed by the Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission with the help of funding by foreign countries such as Russia, China, and South Korea. Russia itself has committed to funding two billion dollars to the construction of future reactors in Bangladesh. Construction for the first one will start in 2015, and it will be fully active by 2020. These nuclear reactors will produce isotopes necessary for nuclear radioactivity information and research and for reactor engineering. Stopping or even decreasing production of the nuclear reactors in Bangladesh or the isotopes themselves would be detrimental to the health and science of the world and society. Over ten thousand hospitals worldwide rely on radioisotopes for their treatments and diagnostics. By having and promoting nuclear reactors, the socio-economic development of Bangladesh will reach new achievements while they will be successful and make advances in physical, biological, and and engineering developments.
There are, indeed, security risks with the production of HEUs from the possible threat of terrorist group abusing them. These risks need to be acknowledged and they need to be prevented. We cannot let these risks destroy the potential in research expansion. We need to prevent the terrorist issues by maintaining strong security within and around the reactors, while also managing who deals with the transportation and production of the isotopes. The International Atomic Energy Agency has guidelines to ensure the safety and security of isotope production and these rules must be followed. Worldwide shortages of the medical isotopes are possible in the future. If these shortages did happen, cancer patients’ treatments would come to a halt and there would be less research that is necessary to help patients. Isotope production needs to be increased in order to prevent this potential threat from becoming a reality. This calls for an increase in the number of nuclear reactors. The expenses could be considered a setback to the development of the reactors, but that’s why it’s even more necessary for countries to band together and fund each other’s development. This funding of foreign powers also would benefit the funders. Nuclear isotopes would then be shared and transported with nearby countries. The countries of the United Nations must acknowledge this demand and importance of medical isotopes, increase their production, and fund their reactors.
