The Edmonton Protocol has been temporarily put on hold due to fears the human form of mad cow disease might infect patients.

The source of an enzyme used in transplants was reported to derive from cow brains. Transplants of these treated islets have been put on hold until a source for this enzyme can be found that doesn't use cow brains. Dr. James Shapiro, the surgeon who developed the Edmontol Protocol said, "we just decided to put the program on hold". Shapiro and his team transplant healthy islet cells into the pancreas of people with Type 1 diabetes. The healthy cells allow recipients to again begin producing insulin crucial to the body's ability to regulate sugar digestion.

The National Institutes of Health was creating a similar program in the United States when it discovered that one of the biomedical compounds that Shapiro's team has been using depends on cow brains. Roche Applied Sciences was selling the team an enzyme that allows doctors to extract healthy islet cells. But Roche was buying the bacteria that secretes the enzyme from a third company, which grew the bacteria using fat from cow brains. Roche spokeswoman Michele Beaubien said from Montreal that the enzyme is sold for research purposes only.

The more I learn these days about medicine and how it is applied to diabetes - the more I feel as though everything is for research purposes only. Don't you? As Yogi Berra said, "it ain't over till it's over". A big thanks to Dave of No Sugar Tonight for bringing this story to my attention.