My 8 year old nephew has type 1A (juvenile) diabetes and was diagnosed with it at age 4. I've watched as his part of "normal" life is constant testing and administration of insulin to keep him healthy and alive. As usual, our government is moving at a snails' pace in the approval of newer technology to help people with diabetes live a normal life (you know it's bad when Canada is one of the 40 countries already using these). The importance of these "artificial pancreas" devices cannot be stressed enough, because the effects of insulin swings on your body can have a devastating effect over time, and is one of the reasons why diabetics typically have a shorter lifespan.
I've copied the email from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Fund and placed a link below that for a petition for the FDA. If this is something you support, please sign the petition to hopefully get them off their behinds.
As you know, it’s a busy season at JDRF. Many of you are already walking, riding, and fundraising to help support research toward curing, treating, and preventing type 1 diabetes (T1D). So we hope you’ll excuse one more message in your inbox today, as we wanted to inform our most committed advocates—you—about an important, time-sensitive way you can make a difference, without raising another dime: the artificial pancreas petition.
Last week JDRF launched the Artificial Pancreas Campaign, and today we’re asking you to join us and sign a petition to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The goal of the initiative is to convince the FDA to adopt the recommendations of clinical experts to advance the development of an artificial pancreas, a device which has the potential to be the most revolutionary advancement in the treatment of T1D since the discovery of insulin. The petition will be presented to the FDA and leading Members of Congress to demonstrate the enormous support for accelerated progress on making a safe and effective artificial pancreas available in America as soon as possible.
Ideally, this petition would not be necessary. But FDA obstacles have already prevented Americans affected by T1D from using the low glucose suspend (LGS) insulin pump, a precursor to the artificial pancreas. Meanwhile, patients in over 40 other countries, including Canada, England, France, and Germany, can obtain the LGS device. We need to act now so that development of the first and future generations of artificial pancreas systems can proceed without delay. Clearly, T1D patients and families cannot take anything for granted, especially when the stakes are so high.
And the artificial pancreas will do more than just help those living with diabetes. If widely adopted, the artificial pancreas will help address our nation’s spiraling medical costs, saving Medicare nearly $2 billion over 25 years, according to a recent study.
Thank you for considering this most important request, and for all you are doing for JDRF and people with T1D!
Here's the link:
http://takeaction.jdrf.org/site/PageNavigator/APAC.htmlThanks,
Marty
