TENS of thousands of diabetics who have to inject themselves with insulin in order to stay alive must find it hard to believe that a few people who do not need it risk their lives by taking it.

Nobody can know whether Jon Daltrey knew the dangers of what he was doing when he bought insulin over the internet in order to build up his muscles.

Jon, a 25-year-old fitness fanatic, was also taking an anabolic steroid.

But if anything good can come from the waste of a fit young man's life, hopefully it will be a strong warning that the use of potentially dangerous drugs to boost performance capabilities is incredibly foolish.

No matter how obsessed some people are by body-building, using drugs such as insulin is not worth the risk.

It is staggering that vials of it can be obtained easily by anyone who has sufficient money and knows how to find their way around the net. And barely credible that in the USA it can be bought over the pharmacy counter without a prescription.

We respect Jon's grieving father David for urging that a publicity campaign should highlight the dangers of insulin.

It should be available only to diabetics who need it. Ironically most of them would probably prefer not to have to take it.