House Calls, a popular newsletter written by the prestigious Dr. Inglis, highlights a very important question in light of the Avandia mishap: how many other potential whistle-blowers are out there who have been silenced into submission before the Big Pharma vultures?

A medical expert testified that he agreed to sign a statement that was meant to appease the company's investors. This is not the type of behavior anyone should expect or dismiss of a doctor, entrusted with a patient's life. In his defense, he did forward a letter with his concerns to the FDA, which means they also were aware of the same threat. This same doctor is the President-elect for none other than the American Diabetes Association. Isn't that special? The ADA -- my friend, my confidant, my utter supporter of the C-peptide crusade ... sense the sarcasm? So much for advocacy, when the president-elect of this organization so willingly swept those safety concerns under the table, when he should have been throwing a tantrum on top of it! And all over the threat of litigation from a drug company more concerned about its investors than patients.

The closing comments in Dr. Inglis' newsletter say it all: There are so many vultures out there waiting to pick the bones of the American public, it disgusts me. This example goes to show why I always recommend to you -- and to all of my patients -- that you always question everything when it comes to your health. I don't care if it's your doctor you've had for 50 years or one of these nonprofit organizations -- give them all hell.

If you read a warning label on your insulin that said - may decrease the amount of insulin you produce - would you think twice about injecting?

Any foreign matter that enters the body can stimulate antibody production. Foreign insulin, especially genetically modified human insulin (GM insulin), is no exception to the rule. More importantly, in relation to its increasingly exclusive dominance in the USA [since 1983], are the types of antibodies created by GM insulin. They could be similar to the types of antibodies that cause type 1 diabetes - also known as insulin-dependent diabetes.

Insulin auto-antibodies (IA-A) and c-peptide measurements can help you tell if your injected GM insulin is stimulating 'anti-your-own-body' cells. This response is often referred to as an auto-immune or inflammatory disease. This is because IA-A can trigger inflammation and an attack by specific immune system cells. For example IA-A can attract a targeted attack on your beta bells (the cells naturally producing your own insulin and c-peptide) by exciting your seek and destroy cells (aka the the IA-A militia).

Research has found that GM insulin can stimulate approximately 60% more IA-A than porcine (pig) insulin. Also because GM insulin is more identical to human insulin, than porcine insulin, GM IA-A are probably more efficient than porcine IA-A, at duplicating the effects of natural human I-IA. Type 1 or type 2 diabetes can be considered an inflammatory disease when the beta cells become an inflamed 'war zone' resulting from IA-A helping to target natural insulin at its production site.

If you are a type 2 diabetic injecting GM insulin - please strongly encourage your doctor to continue measuring your c-peptide level regularly (and make sure you find out what your c-peptide is before you start injecting!). Once your c-peptide level begins dropping to normal or low - suggest pumping the brakes on your GM insulin regimen. Research suggests that prevalence of IA-A is related to duration of insulin therapy, so BEWARE, you could be headed toward GM insulin-dependent (type 1) diabetes