1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:04,720 Okay, Chelsea, I had an article. I just need to find it really quick. Where did I put it? 2 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:06,640 Is it going to be good news today? 3 00:00:07,920 --> 00:00:08,160 No. 4 00:00:09,120 --> 00:00:09,520 Oh no. 5 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:18,800 This one comes from NBC News. It is written by Caroline Hopkins on January 25th, 2024. 6 00:00:18,800 --> 00:00:23,680 Title, the US just sold its helium stockpile. Here's why medical world is worried. 7 00:00:25,120 --> 00:00:29,600 On Thursday, the US government sold the Federal Helium Reserve, a massive underground stockpile 8 00:00:29,600 --> 00:00:34,880 based in Amarillo, Texas that supplies up to 30% of the country's helium. Once the deal is finalized, 9 00:00:34,880 --> 00:00:38,960 the buyer, which will likely be the highest bidder, the industrial gas company Messer, 10 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:45,440 will claim some 425 miles of pipeline spanning Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma, plus about 1 billion 11 00:00:45,440 --> 00:00:50,080 cubic feet of the only element on earth that cold enough to make an MRI machine work. 12 00:00:50,080 --> 00:00:54,720 The regulatory and logistical issue with the facility threatened a temporary shutdown as it 13 00:00:54,720 --> 00:00:59,200 passes from public to private ownership, and hospital supply chain experts worry the sale 14 00:00:59,200 --> 00:01:03,920 could have serious consequences for healthcare down the road, especially when it comes to MRIs. 15 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:09,600 To be sure, a Federal Helium Reserve shutdown wouldn't mean that MRIs would suddenly power down 16 00:01:09,600 --> 00:01:14,480 across the country, said Sumi Saha, Senior Vice President of Government Affairs at Premier Inc., 17 00:01:14,480 --> 00:01:18,560 which contracts with helium suppliers on behalf of 4,400 hospitals in the US. 18 00:01:18,560 --> 00:01:23,360 But we are stressing about this shortage from a healthcare perspective. MRI machines are the 19 00:01:23,360 --> 00:01:28,640 number one concern. American patients undergo an estimated 40 million MRI scans each year to help 20 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:33,840 diagnose cancer, brain and spinal cord injuries, strokes and heart conditions. The superconductive 21 00:01:33,840 --> 00:01:40,000 magnet-powered imaging machines give doctors clear high-resolution images of areas inside the body 22 00:01:40,000 --> 00:01:45,200 they can't see on X-ray and CT scans. But without liquid helium, the Earth's coldest element, 23 00:01:45,200 --> 00:01:49,520 MRI machines can't keep their magnets cold enough to generate these images. 24 00:01:49,520 --> 00:01:54,880 The sale of the government stockpile of the non-renewable element could exacerbate an existing 25 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:59,520 supply shortage, Saha said. A number of factors could trigger a shutdown of the facility that 26 00:01:59,520 --> 00:02:05,360 could last as long as three years, said Rich Gottwold, CEO of the Compressed Gas Association. 27 00:02:05,360 --> 00:02:10,000 A trade group that represents companies including Messer that buy up helium and sell it to hospitals, 28 00:02:10,000 --> 00:02:15,200 semiconductor manufacturers, NASA and other customers. The facility spans three states, 29 00:02:15,200 --> 00:02:20,240 each of which has its own laws. The federal government didn't need to reconcile state-specific 30 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:25,200 rules but a private buyer would, he said. Another issue is that helium must be enriched before it 31 00:02:25,200 --> 00:02:29,600 can be used and a separate system is needed to do that. That enrichment system isn't part of 32 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:34,400 Federal Reserve, but it is privately owned by four private companies including Messer. Unlike the 33 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:40,640 pipeline in helium itself, it wasn't for sale. A new owner will need to create some sort of lease 34 00:02:40,640 --> 00:02:46,000 to use the enrichment unit or build their own unit to enrich helium, Gottwold said. There's a whole 35 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:50,400 host of issues that need to be resolved and the concern is until they are resolved the system 36 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:55,360 will need to be shut down. In a letter in October urging the White House to delay the sale, the CGA 37 00:02:55,360 --> 00:03:00,640 and four other trade associations laid out what they see as the most critical issues at the facility. 38 00:03:00,640 --> 00:03:05,440 Two of the trade associations behind the letter, ADVA-MEDD and the Medical Imaging and Technology 39 00:03:05,440 --> 00:03:10,720 Alliance represent MRI manufacturers. Quote, timely critical patient care would suffer if 40 00:03:10,720 --> 00:03:16,160 helium supply is constricted further. ADVA-MEDD urges the White House to delay the sale and 41 00:03:16,160 --> 00:03:20,400 privatization of the Federal Helium Reserve until outstanding issues identified by the 42 00:03:20,400 --> 00:03:25,680 Compressed Gas Association are resolved. End quote. Said Scott Whitaker, ADVA-MEDD CEO. 43 00:03:25,680 --> 00:03:30,000 The sale has been in the works for more than a decade. Congress first mandated it through the 44 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:35,840 Helium Stewardship Act and it was initially supposed to occur in 2021 but a series of delays in part 45 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:40,160 due to the same logistical and regulatory issues threatening shutdowns today postponed the auction 46 00:03:40,160 --> 00:03:45,600 to Thursday. That's probably a good place to end. There is more to the article if you wish to read 47 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:52,160 more like by all means. It's an interesting topic and if your only real intentional interaction with 48 00:03:52,160 --> 00:03:57,760 helium is in balloons you would not realize that there's actually a whole world behind that which 49 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:02,880 could go away in a very short time span that is medical technology that uses helium. 50 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:06,880 Yeah, do you think the private buyer is something to do with balloons? 51 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:13,360 Um, no. And in fact, it's the subsidization of helium that allows us to use it for balloons. 52 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:18,160 If it was actually like free market prices, we wouldn't be able to use helium in balloons because 53 00:04:18,160 --> 00:04:23,040 it would be like 80 dollars per balloon. We wouldn't be buying that if it was 80 dollars per balloon. 54 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:29,040 But helium is nice to have on balloons. They, yeah, quote. Our breath doesn't do that. And that's not 55 00:04:29,040 --> 00:04:37,680 good. I mean, in the end, I feel like money talks more than anything in the United States and that's 56 00:04:37,680 --> 00:04:42,880 dangerous. Yeah. And if there's critical supplies of things that you are stockpiling, it's probably 57 00:04:42,880 --> 00:04:48,000 best that it remains in public hands and not at the whims of a few billionaires who probably own 58 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:52,960 these companies. Yeah, because they don't give a shit. Yeah, they can do anything. They make money. 59 00:04:52,960 --> 00:04:57,360 Yes. And in fact, there being a dwindling supply means they can make more money. That's true. 60 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:01,600 And a very annoying thing is if you own a monopoly on a product, you can't. Yeah, 61 00:05:01,600 --> 00:05:06,560 a monopoly or a monopoly depending on what we're looking at there. But yeah, that's a little bit 62 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:13,040 of depressing news, potentially depressing news, I guess. So it's not, it's not truly bad news. 63 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:18,560 Yeah, it's just potentially bad and likely bad in the long run. But yeah, 48 hours to think on that 64 00:05:18,560 --> 00:05:28,560 and hopefully get your MRIs if you need them. So anyhow, we'll see you Friday.