Nuclear applications non-energies in Mexico: interdependence between the technological development and the life quality;Aplicaciones nucleares no-energeticas en Mexico: interdependencia entre el desarrollo tecnologico y la calidad de vida

The nuclear techniques have offered important benefits to the health care, the life quality of the people and the environment, as well as to the development of science and technology. Particularly the nuclear techniques through the investigation, have helped to obtain excellent technological advances in medicine, through specialized studies of diagnosis and treatment of diseases in humans and animals, the materials sterilization of medical use, the foods production and in the improvement of physical properties of polymers, the industrial processes control, the chemistry analysis of samples in precise, superficial or volumetric form, the identification and characterization of materials, as well as the understanding of the relation man-cosmos. These techniques have a high potential of application in medicine, nutrition, genetics, molecular biology, pharmacology, nuclear physics, nuclear chemistry, environmental chemistry, agriculture, livestock, hydrology, geology and industrial manufacture. This work includes the main applications and their ample potential of use in Mexico where the radioisotopes demand as open sources is of 89% for the health sector, 9% for industry and 2% for research. The annual national demand of distributed radioisotopes to public and private hospitals for the period 2000-2008 shows a constant growth and on the last three years it is approximated to 3.3% annual. As a result of the nuclear techniques application in the health sector at national level on the last 110 years, have been increased the correct diagnosis of diseases, the success in surgeries and the diseases treatment, it is has diminished the period of hospital stays and the medicine dose, thus like the generation of new knowledge of metabolic processes derived from the use of drugs for some diseases. For Mexico, the health sector reports the major important benefits, being expected to short and medium term an increase in the demand of these methodologies in other sectors. (Author)