The presence or absence (insertion or deletion) of a 287-bp Alu sequence in the 16th intron of the ACE gene, which present on the 17th chromosome, has been strongly debated in terms of its association with the increased risk of diabetes and diabetic complications (Marre et al., 1994), myocardial infarction (Samani et al., 1996) and HTN (Zee et al., 1992). The gene discussed is ACE; the disease is diabetes mellitus.