Asking what a clear liquid smells like sounds like an oxymoron, although it makes sense. Of course I\u2019m talking about insulin, which was discovered almost a century ago (1922), but while the industry has advanced far beyond those initial batches, there are still a few things that remain the same. Whether we\u2019ve lived around this life-saving substance for years, months or days, we all seem to be able to call up a memory, an idea, or a scent.<\/p>\n
We posted on our Facebook page asking what you thought about the smell of this life-saving vial. Many of you said it smelled like Band-Aids, which included the old school, cloth kind as well as modern ones. Some of you were more specific: \u201cTo me it has the fresh smell of electronics right out of the box with new Band-Aids mixed in.\u201d Another set said it smelled like printer ink, like a \u201cbook or poster with fresh printing on it,\u201d or \u201cthe smell of freshly mimeographed purple-inked papers, cool from the roller.\u201d April Lynn Weber smelled \u201cnew plastic shower curtain liners.\u201d Kelly Weets, whose daughter has diabetes, threw out this one for us to ponder: Barbie legs.<\/p>\n
I can recall the smell of taking a new toy out of the box and the scent of machine-made plastic, but Barbie doesn\u2019t say insulin for me. Scent is, perhaps, that most personal of senses and tapping in to that reservoir brought up ancient history for some.<\/p>\n
Kristine Gillihan Woelfel recalled a college professor. \u201cHe always had this very familiar scent to him, but I couldn’t quite place it. I didn’t realize it was insulin until I got a pump years later and thought, \u2018Aha! He smelled like insulin!\u2019 Having a pump makes me feel like I smell like insulin constantly, so this realization about his scent was years in the making. I wish I had known sooner, we could have had a conversation about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Others went the romance novel direction. Kate Brandeis wrote, \u201cThe odor is medicinal, yes. But in an old-fashioned, BBC war drama sort of way. Think, \u201cSend The Midwife\u201d or \u201cThe Crimson Field.\u201d It is, at the end if the day, an old remedy. And, oh would there be drama if we didn’t have it!\u201d<\/p>\n
Shay Nicholson conjured up vivid childhood memories. It\u2019s a \u201clittle bit like Lysol, a little bit like Band-Aids, a little bit like being five and helping my granddad mix his vials before dinner. I can still hear the clack of his wedding band against the glass vial and smell that odd smell mixed with dinner and his aftershave.\u201d<\/p>\n
Insulin smells the way it does because manufacturers add phenol to it. Once added, the compound helps to stabilize it and it also acts as both an antiseptic and disinfectant in the liquid, which most of us use over the course of numerous injections. The NIH<\/a> tells us exactly what to expect when we drop a vial on the floor: \u201ca sweet tarry odor that resembles a hospital smell.\u201d And there\u2019s a reason it\u2019s familiar. You\u2019ll find phenol listed in the ingredients on a host of everyday products like sunscreen, cosmetics, and mouthwash.<\/p>\n There are other purposes for these chemical additives. \u201cInsulin is a protein, and as a protein, it is much more susceptible to degradation by bacteria or free-floating protease enzymes than a small molecule drug like aspirin or ibuprofen,\u201d says Patrik D’haeseleer at the Open Insulin Project<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dr. Michael Weiss, a researcher at Case Western Reserve University who has made a career of working with insulin, says, \u201cWith more stable insulin analogs, they [anti-microbial preservatives] would not be needed.\u201d His side company, Thermaline<\/a>, is working on several insulin analogs that will be significantly more stable; in fact the scientist is working on insulin that won\u2019t need to be refrigerated. (I\u2019m waiting for glucose responsive insulin, which Thermaline is also working on.)<\/p>\n New comments kept coming on our Facebook page: rubbing alcohol, minty disinfectant, cork, leather and scotch. Another everyday item that some compared it to were telephone poles, which are treated with creosote (a form of phenol) to preserve and waterproof the pole. As an item we think about every single day of our lives, insulin is intrinsically tied up in our brains as a necessary evil\u2013\u2013more important than our phones and a hair less important than air or water. What would we do without it?<\/p>\n \u201cIt makes me feel safe,\u201d wrote Judi Hoskins. \u201cI’ve taken insulin for 60 years and am grateful that this option is available. Without it, I know my life would end and I’ve always been thankful that insulin exists, whatever it smells like.\u201d Kelly Close, the founder of Close Concerns and diaTribe<\/a>, wrote this in email: \u201cIt\u2019s a pretty intense smell. I always think when I smell it that I\u2019m so grateful to be living.\u201d This was echoed by many of us. Insulin is the smell of life.<\/p>\n