Health
Imperialism and Discriminatory International Laws
“Hypocrisy can afford to be magnificent in its promise,
for never intending to go beyond promise costs nothing.” - Edmund Burke
Joe Biden’s statements on resuscitating the 2015 Joint
Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has also reignited an old debate inside
Iran. With the Rouhani administration clearly siding with those pushing for
unconditional return to the ‘deal’ signed with the U.S. and five other world powers, it is important
to discuss what is at stake - specifically as it relates to medical isotopes
and Iran's enrichment needs.
While the United States and its western ‘allies’ demand that
Iran stop all enrichment of up to 20% for its research reactor and medical
isotopes, the US government has continued its efforts to commercialize nuclear
medicine.
In 2011, while the Obama administration was busy talking in
secret with the ‘reformist’ groups attempting to influence and undermine Iran’s
rights under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), the U.S. Congress passed the “American
Medical Isotopes Production Act of 2011” . The Bill calls for providing
uranium to private sector companies to make medical isotopes with U.S.
government undertaking the task of waste removal: “The lease contracts
shall provide for the Secretary to retain responsibility for the final
disposition of radioactive waste created by the irradiation, processing, or
purification of leased uranium.” It is important to read the entire Bill
here: E:\BILLS\S99.IS
(govinfo.gov)
Under Section 6 titled ‘DOMESTIC MEDICAL ISOTOPE PRODUCTION’, the Bill stipulates:
“(a) In General.— Chapter 10 of the Atomic Energy
Act of 1954 (42
U.S.C. 2131 et seq.) is amended by adding at the end the following:
“Sec. 112. Domestic Medical Isotope Production.
“a. The Commission may issue a license, or grant an
amendment to an existing license, for the use in the United States of highly
enriched uranium as a target for medical isotope production in a nuclear
reactor, only if, in addition to any other requirement of this Act.”
Clearly not a proliferation concern. America is the
arbitrator of international treaties – it would seem with cooperation from
other powers. But Iran’s uranium enriched to 19.75% - considered to be LEU
and necessary for research reactors and medicinal purposes - has to be
halted.
Through National Nuclear Security Administration, the U.S.
is monopolizing and handing control over global medical isotope production to
profit-driven companies. Here is the statement published on NNSA’s
website:
“As part of its mission to minimize the use of highly
enriched uranium (HEU), NNSA’s Office of Material Management and Minimization
was tasked to lead the Molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) program. Mo-99 is an isotope that
is used in over 40,000 medical procedures in the United States each day, but is
100% supplied by foreign vendors, most of which use HEU in the production
process.”
It also identifies four private companies currently working
with the U.S. government:
NorthStar Medical
Radioisotopes, LLC, located in Beloit, Wisconsin
·
SHINE Medical Technologies,
located in Janesville, Wisconsin Northwest
·
Medical Isotopes, located
in Corvallis, Oregon
·
Niowave, Inc., located in Lansing,
Michigan”
Medical isotopes are a lucrative, growing business and one
that is essential to human health.
Radiotherapy can be used to
treat some medical conditions, especially cancer, using radiation to weaken or
destroy particular targeted cells.
·
Over 40 million nuclear
medicine procedures are performed each year, and demand for radioisotopes is
increasing at up to 5% annually.
·
Sterilization of medical
equipment is also an important use of radioisotopes
The global radioisotope market was valued at $9.6 billion in 2016, with
medical radioisotopes accounting for about 80% of the total, and poised to
reach about $17 billion by 2021. North America is the dominant market for
diagnostic radioisotopes with close to half of the market share, while Europe
accounts for about 20%. Hence, 70% of the global medical
radioisotopes goes to a population of 778 million people (US 331 and EU 447
million) while 7 billion (global population 7.8 billion less US and EU) are
left with only 30%.
Where there is health imperialism, profit, and
discrimination, there is Bill Gates. According
to the Journal of
Economics and Sociology (2015), Bill Gates, the single biggest
contributor to World Health Organization (WHO):
"Gates calls for discussion “about which parts of
the process [WHO] should lead and which ones others (including the World Bank
and the G7 countries) should lead in close coordination.” While the article
contains perfunctory nods to U.N. authority, as well as brief lip service to
the idea of strengthening public health services in poor countries, there can
be little doubt that Gates is advocating a new form of international
institution, transcending the United Nations, targeting the developing world,
and effectively controlled by the wealthy nations of the
West".
It comes as no surprise therefore that Gates in
involved with nuclear medicine. "TerraPower, the nuclear research venture
founded by Bill Gates, is joining with Isotek Systems and the U.S. Department
of Energy in a public-private partnership aimed at turning what otherwise would
be nuclear waste into radiation doses for cancer treatment."
Such benevolence. But sovereign signatory nations
party to the NPT are not permitted to cure their sick.
Furthermore, the more affluent people living in countries
with limited access to nuclear medicine, find their way to the US or the EU for
treatment, benefiting from their affluence while taking their home country's
wealth to the West. And the gap is only growing.
In the USA there are over 20 million nuclear medicine
procedures conducted per year, and in Europe about 10 million. In Australia
there are about 560,000 per year, with 470,000 using reactor isotopes. The use
of radiopharmaceuticals in diagnosis is growing
at over 10% per year.
But in spite of the dire shortage of medical isotopes as
reported by IAEA
report – April 2020, JCPOA and the signatories, are demanding that Iran not
produce this life-saving nuclear medicine.
The degree of double standards and hypocrisy cannot be emphasized
enough. Only 10
nuclear reactors, many of which are nearing 50 years of operation, produce
over 95% of the world’s supply. In 2007, Poland used HEU to supply medical
isotopes – and continued. Why and how is it that the IAEA and other
members states have no problem with Poland possessing HEU? “In
2007, during a supply crisis in the molybdenum 99 market (caused by breakdowns
at some of the older reactors, particularly the Canadian NRU reactor), Poland’s
MARIA reactor increased its HEU-based production of molybdenum 99 to fill the
gap. Though the crisis has passed, the Polish reactor does not appear to have
reduced its production. It too uses HEU fuel and targets.
One of the main suppliers of medical isotope is the
Netherlands using bomb grade/HEU to process. Obviously
not an issue with the IAEA or the U.S. or anyone else. South Africa has
maintained around 80 kilograms of its HEU according to NTI Civilian
HEU: South Africa | NTI Clearly, blessed
by America as they are working on producing LEU medical isotopes while the
U.S. looks the other way
It is not clear how anyone can accept so much discrimination
in applying science, and to enforce not only lawlessness, but health imperialism.
