1) Diabetes & Insulin.It is often wrongly claimed that the discovery of insulin was made in the 1920s through experiments on dogs by Banting and Best. However, in the words of Italy's Prof. Bruno Fedi, M.D., 1989:
“. . . . The observations of Banting and Best on diabetes, attributed to experiments on dogs, were already well-known . . . Every discovery derives from observations on humans, which are subsequently duplicated in animals, and whenever the findings happen to concur, their discovery is attributed to animal experimentation. Everything we know today in medicine derives from observations made on human beings.....” Prof. Bruno Fedi, M.D., 1986, Director of the City Hospital of Terni, Italy, anatomist, pathologist, specialist in urology, gynaecology and cancerology. (quote from the book "1000 Doctors (& many more) Against Vivisection", Ed. Hans Ruesch, CIVIS publications, Switzerland, 1989)
+ The CLINICAL Discovery of Insulin.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As stated by Dr. Ferdi, the various experiments involving dogs simply reconfirmed for non-believers what was present in, say, autopsy findings. In no way were the animal studies necessary for insulin's discovery.
A correct, chronological history of the discovery of insulin
would be as follows:
1. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks recognized certain
clinical symptoms of diabetes - specifically, volumous
urination. The term "diabetes" is itself a Greek term
meaning siphon or pipe-like. Since nutrients are not
metabolized in an unchecked diabetic in the conven-
tional way, they pass though the body in a pipe-like
flow (Michael Bliss, "The Discovery of Insulin"
(University of Chicago, 1982).
2. The first clinical association of diabetes with pancre-
atic disease was evidenced in an autopsy performed
by Thomas Cawley in 1788 (Opie, "Diseases of the
Pancreas", 1910; Jackson and Vanik, "Diabetes Mellitus",
1977).
3. From the mid-nineteenth century until the early
1900s human autopsies repeatedly demonstrated that indi-
viduals with "damaged pancreases almost always had
diabetes." Thus, the connection between diabetes
and pancreatic misfunction was established (Opie,
1910, as quoted in Bliss, 1982).
4. The 1889 dog experiments of Oskar Minkowski and
Joseph Von Mering, which involved removing the
animals pancreas and monitoring the rise in blood
sugar were consistent with then current autopsy
findings which is why they were hailed by scientists of
the day.
5. Banting was inspired to perform duct ligation experi-
ments on dogs because of the findings of pathologist
Moses Barron whose autopsy studies (on people) concluded that
"the health of the Islets (of Langerhans) was the key
variable in the genesis of diabetes (Bliss, 1982)". In fact,
it was the work of Moses Baroon that was the real
breakthrough in the discvoery of insulin.
6. Due to its extreme toxicity, Banting and Best's pan-
creatic extract was a "failure" when administered to
the first human patient, a severely diabetic fourteen-
year-old boy named Leonard Thompson. It was not
until biochemist J.B. Collip succeeded in isolating and
purifying insulin that it was deemed safe and effective
for human beings which could only be confirmed via
clinical (ie. human) trials (Bliss, 1982).
SUMMARY:
This outline demonstrates how the animal research lobby
distorts medical history to support their
agenda. A critical investigation into the history of a
disease usually uncovers events that conflict with
the orthodox drug lobby version of medical history.
Recently, some vivisectionists have attempted to mislead
the public into believing that human-cloned insulin is a
product of animal experimentation. What they fail to
mention is why this technology came into play and the
specifics underlying its production.
Animal-based insulins have been responsible for allergic type
reactions in human patients and manufacturers were concerned with
possible famine conditions that could preclude consistent
attainment of insulin. Thus, major pharmaceuticals began
cloning human insulin (Humulin) from bacterially-based
recombinant DNA (E. coli).
Humulin - as is every FDA approved medication - was "safety-tested"
on animals but these procedures have no bearing on the scientific process used in the actual discovery. And, as has been well chronicled on the web-sites listed below, safety-testing drugs and medicines in animal models is irrelevant when attempting to determine reactions in human beings.
The above article is based on one published in "The Guardian Newsletter Volume 4 No. 12 autumn 1998" Page 9
Guardians web-site: www.werple.net.au/~antiviv
E-mail: guardians@werple.net.au
po box 59 Pascoe Vale South 3044 Victoria Australia.
** This post was brought to you by EYE: www.teknet.net.au/~eye/
Campaign Against Fraudulent Medical Research: www.pnc.com.au/~cafmr
None.
