Topic: Access to Medical Isotopes
Country: Congo
Delegate Name: Monique Taylor
School: Saginaw Arts and Sciences Academy
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Congo position papers GLIMUN 2014 committees
As our understanding of technology increases, so do our options for its applications. Such is the nature of progress, and nuclear power is one such example. Instead of the damaging and sometimes deadly effects it’s associated with, we have the power to develop nuclear products that help to heal. This is the purpose of medical radioactive isotopes, also known as nuclear medicine. Over 10,000 hospitals worldwide use radioisotopes in the process of diagnosing diseases through imaging, as well as to treat diseased organs, cancers, and tumors.
While the rate of radiopharmaceutical use is indeed increasing, the majority of the markets and producers are in developed countries. We do acknowledge that people within those countries are suffering and in need of the help these products provide. But there's been so much violence and dissemination of disease in less developed countries that while doctors are doing the best they can, they simply don't have the funds or technology to provide these products for their own people while trying to handle other issues. Because of these issues, the Democratic Republic of the Congo is in favor of increasing international access to medical isotopes.
We recognize the possible dangers in increasing access. Because they’re produced through nuclear means, the use of Highly Enriched Uranium poses a security risk, but the best possible manner to handle this is through training and increasing on-site security at these reactors. In the use of anything related to nuclear power, there is always the issue of waste and how to handle disposal. But because of the recent breakthrough in Saskatoon, Canada, we firmly believe that with more research and international cooperation, it is possible that scientists could develop a method in which these isotopes could be mass produced without the use of a reactor, perhaps even within hospitals themselves. This would simultaneously help to reduce the chance of a future shortage.
