RESOLUTION 2008-07
                      Regarding Insulin Pen Disclaimer
                                ************
      WHEREAS, most people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes can achieve
effective self-management of the disease by regularly testing blood sugar,
eating well, and taking medication if necessary; and
      WHEREAS, for some, effective self-management also includes accurately
measuring and injecting insulin several times a day; and
      WHEREAS, many diabetics measure insulin with ordinary insulin pens
manufactured by pharmaceutical giants like Eli Lilly and Company, Novo
Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Sanofi-aventis; and
      WHEREAS, diabetes is the leading cause of blindness in adults of
working age; and
      WHEREAS, for years blind diabetics have achieved independent self
management of diabetes by successfully using an insulin pen; and
      WHEREAS, despite the resounding evidence that blind people can use
insulin pens safely and effectively, two manufacturers, Eli Lilly and
Company and Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc., use language on their
insulin pen packages warning the blind not to use these products without
sighted assistance; and
      WHEREAS, for example, the instructions from Eli Lilly and Company
read, "The HumaPen MEMOIR is not recommended for the blind or visually
impaired without the assistance of a sighted individual trained to use it,"
and the instructions from Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc., read, "The
Levemir FlexPen is not recommended for the blind or severely visually
impaired patients without the assistance of a sighted individual trained in
the proper use of the product"; and
      WHEREAS, these warnings may actually discourage health care providers
from providing the best medical care to their blind and low-vision diabetic
patients; and
      WHEREAS, these unnecessary warnings are detrimental to the public's
understanding of blindness as well as the independence of blind and low-
vision diabetics; and
      WHEREAS, insulin pens are one of the easiest ways for blind people to
draw up insulin, especially since the Count-a-Dose syringe holder and
measuring device, which was easy for blind people to use, is no longer
manufactured; and
      WHEREAS, these disclaimers are not required by the U.S. Food and Drug
Administration, as some in the industry maintain; and
      WHEREAS, Sanofi-aventis has chosen not to carry such demeaning
warnings on its insulin pens and thus respects the capabilities of blind
people: Now, therefore,
      BE IT RESOLVED by the National Federation of the Blind in Convention
assembled this fifth day of July, 2008, in the city of Dallas, Texas, that
this organization commend Sanofi-aventis for accurately recognizing that
blind persons are capable of independently managing their diabetes without
sighted assistance, thus fostering proper understanding of the way
independent blind and low-vision diabetics can manage their disease by
themselves; and
      BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this organization demand that Eli Lilly
and Company and Novo Nordisk Pharmaceuticals, Inc., remove the demeaning
language about blindness from all of their insulin pen instructions and
products.