Thank you Chairman Markey for calling this hearing today, on a bi-partisan bill that addresses a looming crisis in nuclear medicine by ensuring that a robust and reliable supply of the most critical medical isotopes are produced in the United States.
Every year, 16 million medical procedures in the United States rely on the import of Moly-99. That’s 50,000 per day. We import 100 percent of our supply of this critical isotope. The Canadian reactor, which for decades has been the source of over 60 percent of our Moly-99, is now off-line and may never restart. Without a proper supply of this critical isotope, tens of thousands of patients a day will be affected. And they will be affected in a major way. Among other uses, these isotopes are used in procedures for the detection and staging of cancer and the detection of heart disease.
Typically, when we talk about nuclear in this committee it is relating to generating clean, zero-emission power. But with our hearing today, we see that the benefits of nuclear are many, from providing the catalyst for clean power to life saving medicine. Problems abroad have exposed troublesome flaws here at home in nuclear medicine – it is clear that our nation must produce these life saving isotopes domestically to ensure the public health is protected.
I hope this legislation that we are examining today will just be a first step to ensure there will be a stable supply of Molly-99. My desire is to have it produced here at home.
The American medical Isotopes Production Act is a testament to bipartisan cooperation. This legislation has been endorsed by countless organizations, such as:
- The Society for Nuclear Medicine
- The American Association of Physicists in Medicine
- The American College of Radiology
- The American College of Cardiology
- University of Missouri
I look forward to hearing from our witnesses today and making any necessary changes to this legislation as it moves though the process.
I yield back.
