Radioactive Omission: Where Are the Anti-Radiation Drugs?
Scientific AmericanApr 04, 2011
The US National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced Monday that the first-in-human trial of an experimental drug designed to remove radioactive contaminants from the human body, known as HOPO 14-1, has begun.
If the drug performs as expected, it will be used as a useful tool to treat individuals exposed to harmful radiation from events such as a nuclear power plant accident or exposure to a dirty bomb — a weapon that combines radioactive material with common explosives.
The US' inability to implement adequate treatments for radiation exposure is just another facet of its failed nuclear preparedness. While the age-old iodine pill is still around, there's still no magic bullet for individuals exposed to extreme or prolonged high levels of radiation. The government must diversify the drug and the cancer treatment industry to gain interest, support, and funding before it can be successful.
Despite talk of nuclear "Armageddon," the US has taken measures to ensure that Americans are protected from radiation exposure and radiation sickness in the unlikely event of nuclear war. The US Dept. of Health and Human Services spent $290M on the drug Nplate to bolster the Strategic National Stockpile. However, if an impending doomsday scenario was really credible, the government would be spending far more money on much larger amounts of such medicine.
There's a 31% chance that if a global catastrophe occurs before 2100, it will be principally due to the deployment of nuclear weapons, according to the Metaculus prediction community.