animal insulin, a question

[Caroline]

Out of curiosity, if a vegetarian or vegan needs insulin how do they get on with animal insulin? I know many people use it and that there are alternatives, so I am curious.

 

[Northerner]

Out of curiosity, if a vegetarian or vegan needs insulin how do they get on with animal insulin? I know many people use it and that there are alternatives, so I am curious.

I would imagine that, when only animal insulin was available they had no choice but to use it or face the fate of those diagnosed before its discovery

Do you remember the famous Casualty episode where the little girl with strong views on animal testing would only use a 'special' insulin from a pharmacy in Cornwall and the medic took the decision to give her a more readily available type without her consent? Surely one of the greatest twisting of the possibilities ever since an insulin would never be given approval to be tested on humans first, plus it would never have been discovered and refined without several dogs and rabbits dying for the cause. Harsh, but fact!

My poem on the subject speculated on what form Cornish insulin might take:

http://diabetespoetry.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/cornish-clotted-insulin.html

 

[Caroline]

Thanks. there are untold possibilities, and without the animlas modern medicine in all its forms would not be able to call on many life saving drugs or treatments.

I don't watch Casulty, like many popular dramas it shows different ways of dealing with moral and ethical dilemas.

Food for thought and I am going to think some more.