GIPA provides leadership, expertise and a forum to support and represent gamma irradiation processing.
Support includes initiatives to:
Maintain and enhance confidence in safe and secure gamma irradiation technology
Maintain the reliable and robust application of gamma irradiation processing
Highlight the many beneficial and critical applications of gamma irradiation
Address industry issues that impact members as and when required
COMMERCIAL GAMMA IRRADIATORS WORLDWIDE
IN OPERATION
OF COBALT USED WORLDWIDE
IRRADIATED ANNUALLY WORLDWIDE
GIPA actively represents the industry to:
Influence
Work with Legislative bodies and Regulators to ensure the many benefits of Gamma irradiation are known and considered.
Advocate
Positively influence developments that may have an unnecessary or unreasonable adverse impact on the operation, safety, security, competitiveness, reputation or any other aspect of gamma irradiation processing.
Participate
Participate in the development and implementation of industry standards, codes of conduct, guidelines and best practice.
Represent
Represent the interest of members at a national and international level and through other industry related associations and agencies
Join GIPA
Members of GIPA operate one or more gamma irradiators or are companies that supply cobalt-60 used in gamma processing.
GIPA HISTORY
GIPA was created to address challenges with respect to security and transport changes that had the potential to negatively impact the gamma processing industry in North America.
In the United States over 50 large scale cobalt-60 irradiators annually sterilize approximately 200 million cubic feet of medical items composed of thousands of different devices including disposable or single-use and implantable healthcare products — representing 45 to 50% of all sterile medical devices produced in the US. Several irradiators are annually processing over 79,000 metric tons (175 million pounds) of spices, and there is a trend towards irradiating specifically labelled food items that include ground beef, poultry, fruits, vegetables, and pet treats to eliminate harmful microbes and enhance food safety. Other current applications of gamma processing include the treatment of tropical fruits, combination (drug/device) products, rattan furniture, carpets, and other quarantine items to prevent insects from being imported and harming agriculture.
Concerns about the security of radiation-related industries rose sharply around the world, and particularly in the United States, following the destruction of the World Trade Center towers on September 11, 2001. These concerns extended to illicit uses of radioactive materials.
Many factors combine to ensure gamma irradiation continues to be safe, secure, and effective. Factors including facility design, transportation programs, detailed safety / security plans as well as facility licensing and package certification are embedded into the processes and procedures followed by GIPA member companies. The gamma industry has consistently regarded safety and security as its top two priorities throughout its 50+ year history, and has fulfilled those with regulatory rigor.
GIPA agrees with the need to be ever vigilant to protect any vulnerable radioactive source from malicious use. We shall always support and advocate any legislative and regulatory initiatives that fulfill this objective. However it is important to note that the gamma radiation industry and irradiator owners are strictly regulated and follow security measures that meet International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) guidelines, stringent U.S., Canadian, U.K. and E.U. nuclear regulations , plus countless country, state and local requirements.
The development of new regulations needs to be logical, fair, harmonized and implemented in a manner to maximize tangible security benefits and to avoid adding complexity, increased administrative difficulties and escalating costs. This balance is essential. Medical device manufacturers have spent many years and billions of dollars to take advantage of the unique penetrating properties of gamma radiation which has proven itself over many years to be a primary means of providing effective, reliable sterilization capability. The fact remains that gamma radiation is an established technology that’s extremely flexible, versatile and cost-effective for treating a vast range of medical, consumer and industrial products that benefit society as a whole.