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After World War II, the US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) began mass-producing radioisotopes, sending out nearly 64,000 shipments of radioactive materials to scientists and physicians by 1955. Even as the atomic bomb became the focus of Cold War anxiety, radioisotopes represented the government’s efforts to harness the power of the atom for peace—advancing medicine, domestic energy, and foreign relations. In Life Atomic, Angela N. H. Creager tells the story of how these radioisotopes, which were simultaneously scientific tools and political icons, transformed biomedicine and ecology. Government-produced radioisotopes provided physicians with new tools for diagnosis and therapy, specifically cancer therapy, and enabled biologists to trace molecular transformations. Yet the government’s attempt to present radioisotopes as marvelous dividends of the atomic age was undercut in the 1950s by the fallout debates, as scientists and citizens recognized the hazards of low-level radiation. Creager reveals that growing consciousness of the danger of radioactivity did not reduce the demand for radioisotopes at hospitals and laboratories, but it did change their popular representation from a therapeutic agent to an environmental poison. She then demonstrates how, by the late twentieth century, public fear of radioactivity overshadowed any appreciation of the positive consequences of the AEC’s provision of radioisotopes for research and medicine.
Radioactive isotopes and enriched stable isotopes are used widely in medicine, agriculture, industry, and science, where their application allows us to perform many tasks more accurately, more simply, less expensively, and more quickly than would otherwise be possible. Indeed, in many casesâ€"for example, biological tracersâ€"there is no alternative. In a stellar example of "technology transfer" that began before the term was popular, the Department of Energy (DOE) and its predecessors has supported the development and application of isotopes and their transfer to the private sector. The DOE is now at an important crossroads: Isotope production has suffered as support for DOE's laboratories has declined. In response to a DOE request, this book is an intensive examination of isotope production and availability, including the education and training of those who will be needed to sustain the flow of radioactive and stable materials from their sources to the laboratories and medical care facilities in which they are used. Chapters include an examination of enriched stable isotopes; reactor and accelerator-produced radionuclides; partnerships among industries, national laboratories, and universities; and national isotope policy.
Radioactive Tracers in Biology: An Introduction to Trace Methodology, Second Edition focuses on the biochemical and physiological aspects of tracer research, including medical applications of tracer techniques, radioactivity, radiation hazards, and radioactive isotopes. The book first offers information on atomic nuclei, radioactivity, and the production of radioactive isotopes and radiation characteristics of tracer atoms. Discussions focus on nuclear reactions, neutron-induced and deuteron-induced transmutations, properties of atomic nuclei, and target techniques and radiochemistry. The manuscript also ponders on the procedures for radioactive assay and radiation hazards. The text examines the biochemical, medical, and physiological applications of tracer methodology. The manuscript also takes a look at radioactive hydrogen, short-lived and long-lived radioactive carbon, radioactive phosphorus and sulfur, and alkali metal and alkaline earth tracers. Topics include synthesis of organic intermediates for tracer carbon studies; biosynthesis of labeled carbon compounds; and general survey of alkali metal tracers. The publication is a dependable reference for readers interested in radioactive tracers.
This report explores the main reasons behind the unreliable supply of Technetium-99m (Tc-99m) in health-care systems and policy options to address the issue. Tc-99m is used in 85% of nuclear medicine diagnostic scans performed worldwide – around 30 million patient examinations every year. These scans allow diagnoses of diseases in many parts of the human body, including the skeleton, heart and circulatory system, and the brain. Medical isotopes are subject to radioactive decay and have to be delivered just-in-time through a complex supply chain. However, ageing production facilities and a lack of investment have made the supply of Tc-99m unreliable. This report analyses the use and substitutability of Tc-99m in health care, health-care provider payment mechanisms for scans, and the structure of the supply chain. It concludes that the main reasons for unreliable supply are that production is not economically viable and that the structure of the supply chain prevents producers from charging prices that reflect the full costs of production and supply.
This Very Short Introduction is an exciting and non-traditional approach to understanding the terminology, properties, and classification of chemical elements. It traces the history and cultural impact of the elements on humankind from ancient times through today. Packed with anecdotes, The Elements is a highly engaging and entertaining exploration of the fundamental question: what is the world made from?
Here is a complete guide to the wide variety of uses of radioisotopes in biological investigations. A useful alternative to multiple sources, the book provides an informative introduction to the theory behind this growing technology, as well as practical advice on isotope and equipment choice, radiation protection, and safety measures. Procedural advice on in vivo and in vitro labelling, autoradiography, and immunoassay, will be applicable in several types of investigations, and practitioners will find the convenient summaries of U.S. and U.K. legislation governing these materials to be a particularly useful timesaver.
Safety is a word that has many connotations, of risk ofa possible accident that is acceptable conjuring up different meanings to different to one person· may not be acceptable to an people. What is safety? A scientist views safety other. This may be one reason why skydiving as a consideration in the design of an exper and mountain climbing are sports that are not iment. A manufacturing plant engineer looks as popular as are, say, boating or skiing. on safety as one of the necessary factors in But even activities that have high levels of developing a manufacturing process. A legis potential risk can be engaged in safely. How lator is likely to see safety as an important part can we minimize risks so that they decrease of an environmental law. A governmental ad to acceptable levels? We can do this by iden ministrator may consider various safety issues tifying sources of hazards and by assessing the when reviewing the environmental conse risks of accidents inherent to these hazards. quences of a proposed project. An attorney Most hazards that are faced in the laboratory may base a negligence suit on safety defects.
The Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (RECA) was set up by Congress in 1990 to compensate people who have been diagnosed with specified cancers and chronic diseases that could have resulted from exposure to nuclear-weapons tests at various U.S. test sites. Eligible claimants include civilian onsite participants, downwinders who lived in areas currently designated by RECA, and uranium workers and ore transporters who meet specified residence or exposure criteria. The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), which oversees the screening, education, and referral services program for RECA populations, asked the National Academies to review its program and assess whether new scientific information could be used to improve its program and determine if additional populations or geographic areas should be covered under RECA. The report recommends Congress should establish a new science-based process using a method called "probability of causation/assigned share" (PC/AS) to determine eligibility for compensation. Because fallout may have been higher for people outside RECA-designated areas, the new PC/AS process should apply to all residents of the continental US, Alaska, Hawaii, and overseas US territories who have been diagnosed with specific RECA-compensable diseases and who may have been exposed, even in utero, to radiation from U.S. nuclear-weapons testing fallout. However, because the risks of radiation-induced disease are generally low at the exposure levels of concern in RECA populations, in most cases it is unlikely that exposure to radioactive fallout was a substantial contributing cause of cancer.
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