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Insulin was discovered by scientists in Canada in the 1920s. It was made first from animals, then in the 1980s human insulin began to be produced by genetically engineered bacteria. Both performed the same function as human insulin — allowing the body to process consumed sugar.

But there was no way to mimic the human body's immediate production and use of insulin until the 1990s. Thus, until that time, whether animal or human insulin (it had always been called "insulin"), diabetics injected insulin but their blood sugar was higher than a healthy person's for several hours, before coming back down to some level closer to normal.

The newer fast-acting insulins mostly avoid the problem of waiting some significant amount of time before starting to take effect, and also allow the taking of an additional shot that brings unexpectedly high blood sugar down faster. But other things equal it leaves one no less vulnerable, perhaps even more so, to overdoing it, and having blood sugar go too low.

There are still older, cheaper insulins available that have the old problem of slow-to-act, slow-to-fade. This, apparently, is the $25 insulin available at Walmart. Its pattern of action is simply not the same as the more modern insulins, so it is not medically meaningful to say "if it takes hours to lower blood sugar it’s not insulin.” One can, though, say “if it takes hours to lower blood sugar it’s not Humalog” (a brand name for the faster-acting modern insulins).

I say this as a Type I diabetic of 39 years' standing, who has lived through this innovative history. I hope people do not speak recklessly in this way.