Biden Claims He ‘Spoke To’ Man Who ‘Invented’ Insulin, Who Died Before President’s Birth

Biden Claims He ‘Spoke To’ Man Who ‘Invented’ Insulin, Who Died Before President’s Birth
President Joe Biden speaks at a campaign rally at Florida Memorial University on Nov. 1, 2022 in Miami Gardens, Florida. Biden was campaigning for U.S. Senate candidate, Rep. Val Demings (D-Fla.) and gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist ahead of the Nov. 8 general election. (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
Samantha Flom
Updated:
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President Joe Biden made several gaffes while stumping for Democrats in Hallandale Beach, Florida, on Nov. 1, including making the claim that he had met the man who “invented” insulin.

“How many of you know somebody with diabetes and needs insulin?” Biden asked the room full of supporters. “Do you know how much it costs to make that insulin drug for diabetes? … It was invented by a man who did not patent it because he wanted it available for everyone. I spoke to him, OK?”

Insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, was not invented but was discovered in 1921 by Canadian surgeon Frederick Banting.

Banting died on Feb. 21, 1941—more than a year before Biden was born on Nov. 20, 1942.

Other errors Biden made during his Tuesday speech included referring to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.) as “senator” and blaming the “war in Iraq” for current inflation and the death of his son, Beau Biden.

“Inflation is a worldwide problem right now because of a war in Iraq and the impact on oil and what Russia’s doing,” the president said. “I mean, excuse me, the war in Ukraine. I’m thinking of Iraq because that’s where my son died … because he died.”

Beau Biden returned from his deployment in Iraq in September 2009. He died of brain cancer at Walter Reed Memorial Hospital in May 2015.

The flub was not the president’s first on the matter of his late son’s death, as he made the same error on Oct. 12 while designating a monument in Colorado.
Nor were the gaffes Biden’s first in the last week, as at an Oct. 28 rally in Pennsylvania, he claimed that there are 54 states in the United States.
Responding to the president’s Tuesday remarks on Twitter, Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Texas), wrote in a post: “A confused Biden thinks we have 54 states, and he’s forgotten AGAIN how his son passed away, saying he died in Iraq. This is false. He died years later due to cancer. If Biden’s forgotten moments in his life like this, he’s not fit to lead. Take a COGNITIVE TEST or RESIGN NOW!”

Jackson, who served as White House physician under the administrations of former presidents Donald Trump, Barack Obama, and George W. Bush, has repeatedly called for Biden to take a cognitive test, sending letters to the president in June, February, and July to request that he do so.

“This is not a political issue, it’s common sense,” Jackson said in July. “If Joe Biden is confident in his ability to excel at a cognitive test the way President Trump did, he can easily put his fellow Democrats’ fears to rest with this one simple test.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the White House for comment.

Samantha Flom is a reporter for The Epoch Times covering U.S. politics and news. A graduate of Syracuse University, she has a background in journalism and nonprofit communications. Contact her at [email protected].
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