Community Matters: Keeping Canada at the forefront of fighting cancer and disease

The Canadian Cancer Society predicts half of Canadians will be diagnosed with cancer at some point during their lifetime.

Unfortunately, most people will feel cancer’s impact directly, or through a loved one or friend. We all want to do everything we can to better detect and beat cancer, and, thanks to the leadership role of Canada, we are making progress. In fact, Canada’s overall cancer survival rate has increased from about 25 per cent in the 1940s, to 60 per cent today. We can keep up the flight against cancer using new technology to improve survival rates.

Strategic investments and innovations have led to better prevention, enhanced screening, earlier diagnosis, more targeted treatments, and, ultimately, fewer cancer cases and deaths. Many forms of modern cancer diagnosis and treatment depend on nuclear isotopes produced right here in Canada. In fact, more than 10,000 hospitals worldwide use nuclear isotopes in medicine, and about 90 per cent of the procedures are for diagnosis. 

Nuclear isotopes are an important part of Canada’s innovation agenda, and, beyond medicine, the nuclear sector contributes to a wide range of other scientific and economic activities, including energy, human health and safety, material-testing, food safety, and even space exploration.

What many Canadians don’t realize is the pioneering role our country has played in this field of fighting cancer. The work done by Canadian scientists helped pave the way for today’s cancer treatment around the globe, saving millions of lives and positioning Canada as a world leader in nuclear medicine.

A significant percentage of the world’s nuclear isotopes have traditionally come from Canada’s NRU reactor, which reached its end of operational life in March, 2018. Since its closure, alternative avenues for isotope production have been provided by nuclear power reactors, such as Bruce Power and Pickering in Ontario, research reactors in universities like McMaster, and other smaller-scale, isotope-producing options, such as cyclotrons, which have helped fill some of the gap created by the NRU’s closing.

That’s why a coalition of Canadian science, health care and nuclear sector organizations have launched an organization called the Canadian Nuclear Isotope Council (CNIC), of which I am the chairman, to ensure Canada remains a world leader in the production of life-saving isotopes by raising awareness, and supporting long-term policies at the domestic and international level.

Nearly 30 leading organizations from Canada and around the world have joined the council, and this strong team will put forward collective solutions to maintain Canada’s leadership position on the global isotope stage.

Canada’s isotope innovations continue to serve as a model for leadership, using science to find solutions to real world challenges. As we celebrate the contributions of innovative Canadian nuclear technology, we are confident we will continue to build on a better tomorrow and a stronger Canada for all of us.

Learn more at www.CanadianIsotopes.ca, and feel free to contact me at james.scongack@brucepower.com or on Twitter @jscongack.