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THE HISTORY OF INSULIN
The use of insulin for people with diabetes was first discovered in 1921 by a young scientist Frederick Banting and his assistant Charles Best who removed insulin from the pancreas of a dog. In 1922, 14 year old boy Leonard Thompson who was suffering from diabetes became the first human to receive insulin injections. From there they used insulin from pigs pancreas’ but there were many shortages of insulin. Soon scientists would discover the use of recombinant DNA technology. The discovery came in 1978 which would change the world of diabetes forever. Today only synthetic insulin made in a lab is in use for diabetics and there are no shortages or other problems with the drug.
Life without synthetic insulin
People with diabetes would not be able to survive without the discovery of synthetic insulin. I know your thinking why don't scientist just continue to use insulin from the pancreas' of pigs, well, that would only work for a short period of time before all of the pigs on the planet ran out. Other animals could be used but it would be more risky ad the same problems would be ran into. Therefor without the production of insulin millions of people would be dead, the discovery was completely life changing for those who would have died.
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