Possible Diabetes Cure

Below is the link to the article and the actual story is below.
http://http://news.yahoo.com/s/wesh/20070911/lo_wesh/14084349;_ylt=AuDSIWQ73WEJLiSREPfg5JME1vAI

WESH 2 NEWS Orlando, FL
9/11/2007

Possible Diabetes Cure Draws Overwhelming Response, Hope

When WESH 2 News first brought viewers the story of a potential cure for type 1 diabetes two weeks ago, the response was overwhelming
E-mails and phone calls poured in, and viewers wanted more.
Lauren Schmucker, a spunky, energetic 20-year-old college student with type 1 diabetes was one of them.
"Sometimes you just get sick of it, because it just never goes away," said Schmucker.
As a junior majoring in health sciences at Univeristy of Central Florida, Schmucker has to do a little more than most just to stay alive.
"In the morning, you have to wake up, check your blood sugar, make sure it's not low or high," she said.
Schmucker goes through the painful process of checking her blood-sugar levels three times a day, and gives herself insulin shots.
"Sometimes you just hit that spot and it just kills you!" she said.
Schmucker was diagnosed in fourth grade.
Her younger sister received the same diagnosis soon after.
The girls' mother was very surprised at the news because the family had almost no history of diabetes. "The doctors all say it was less than 5 percent chance another one of my children would get diabetes," she said. But a turning point came the night Schmucker turned on the news.
"I watched it that night, and I actually recorded it and it seemed really promising. It really excited me," said Schmucker. The breakthrough research is being done on her own school's campus.
UCF professor Dr. Henry Daniell has found a way to produce human insulin in genetically engineered lettuce.
Once ground down to a fine, green powder, it can be taken as a pill.
If it continues to create insulin after being ingested, the result could be a cure, a possibility that even shocks Daniell. "We can really be happy that we have made progress that helps a society, especially large numbers of people," he said.
One of those people could be Schmucker, who's had her share of close calls, including two trips to the intensive care unit.
"I just felt like something was very, very wrong. I stopped breathing," said Schmucker.

For Schmucker, the thought of no more insulin injections is staggering. Daniell and his team say testing of this potentially revolutionary drug on people could get started in two to three months.
The cure for diabetes could be as little as four years away, assuming the trials go well. To comment on this story, send an e-mail to Raoul Martinez

 

Bonnie, it does seem to be real, my wife is insulin dependent and has been a diabetic for 18 years and we are very excited. They tested this on rats and 85% we're cured of diabetes not helped but cured. It is being done at University O Central Florida which has had many medical breakthrus over the years. She is so excited with just teh thought of being able to come and drive a truck with me. the human testing just started and the doctor who came up with it thinks it will be availble within 4 years and it extremely cheap at least until some pharmacuetical company gets ahold of it, but it's genetically modified lettuce and can be grown very cheap and then it's ground into a podwer and swallowed by pill. it seems you only need to take a pill once a week until cured.