Posted on 07/15/2011 4:04:26 PM PDT by wagglebee
LARGO, Florida, July 15, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A biomedical firm that uses fetal cell lines in flavor technology has removed from its website the names of organizations that use their products, according to the pro-life group Children of God for Life (COGFL).
Senomyx has been called out by the organization for using HEK-293 (human embryonic kidney) cells in the research and development of their artificial flavor enhancers, despite a pro-life consumer backlash.
Among Senomyx’s partnering companies is PepsiCo, which has been targeted for boycott based on its use of the flavor technology. In a recent response to customer letters, PepsiCo noted, “With respect to the flavor discovery research with Senomyx, we utilize techniques that have been the gold standard for several decades.”
COGFL responded, however, that the statement only further inflamed the public’s moral concerns.
“If this ‘gold standard’ is no big deal, then why are they trying so hard to hide the truth?” asked COGFL Executive Director, Debi Vinnedge. “PepsiCo and Senomyx have done everything in their power to trivialize what they are doing, when in fact what they are doing is only further damaging their public image.”
Vinnedge says she wrote to all Board Members of PepsiCo in late June noting their responsibility to protect shareholders’ interests and cautioned that further action would be taken if nothing is done. Since PepsiCo is funding the research and development, and will pay royalties to Senomyx for product sales, COGFL says they have the ability to change the technology being utilized. Board members have not yet responded.
“As we noted in our PepsiCo Board letter, consumers find it repulsive to associate aborted fetal kidney material with something they are about to drink,” stated Ms. Vinnedge. “We believe consumers have a right to know and choose other products.”
In several previous press releases, Children of God for Life has called on all Senomyx partners to either end their affiliation with Senomyx or persuade them to use morally obtained cell lines, several of which are listed as viable alternatives in their own patents.
The group is asking the public to continue their boycott efforts and they have produced a one page flyer that can be downloaded here.
“The boycott is working and if PepsiCo continues to ignore our requests, we will file a shareholder resolution to significantly broaden public knowledge,” said Vinnedge.
COGFL noted that PepsiCo stockholders interested in joining the effort can contact the organization here.
Pepsi’s Soylent Green flavor is delicious.
AMEN.....our country doomed itself.
*
They had to find some use for them. They don’t have enough fat to make soap or hair to insulate Uboats.
“The company’s key flavor programs focus on the discovery and development of savory, sweet and salt flavor ingredients that are intended to allow for the reduction of MSG, sugar and salt in food and beverage products,” the Senomyx web site says. “Using isolated human taste receptors, we created proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems that provide a biochemical or electronic readout when a flavor ingredient interacts with the receptor.”
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2727247/posts
>> This is extremely disturbing. I was drinking Pepsi as I started reading the article and poured the rest out.
Disturbing indeed.
Ok, after lurking here for many years, I finally decided to sign up to reply to some of the questions posted in reply to this topic.
How does taste/tasting something work? Food/beverages have some active ingredients in them (like coffee has caffeine), which are recognized by specialized proteins present on surface of taste cells. These receptors are called “taste receptors”. Once a receptor is stimulated by a certain active ingredient, it activates downstream signaling pathways that eventually tells the brain to accept (you like it) or reject (dislike) the taste. Not all taste cells have all taste receptors. If you do a google search for image of taste cells on tongue, it will show you what the locations are.
What this company is trying to find out is what ingredient to use to produce the flavor, so that they get the reaction they want from the taste buds, i.e., you like it. What they are possibly trying to optimize is how much of it to use in a certain volume of beverage, how much after-taste it leaves, etc.
Now coming to the part of HEK cells; indeed these cells are from an embryonic kidney. But, there is no need to keep killing babies for it. I don’t know if you are aware, but ordinarily cells do not survive long after they have taken out of their source (body). TO make them able to undergo proliferation indefinitely, certain changes are made to them. Once done, these cells can now be maintained in the laboratory for ever. So, it can well be the case that this embryo did not come to term for natural reasons, or aborted spontaneously, miscarried, etc, and once the cells were taken from the kidney of that fetus, they were transformed to make them able to proliferate for ever under laboratory conditions. This could well have happened prior to Roe. v. Wade.
Now to answer the Q: is there dead baby parts in my Pepsi? NO. Absolutely not. What this company is doing is taking the HEK-293 cell LINE (after transforming the cells to make them able to divide in the lab perpetually, they are called “cell lines”), culturing them in petri dish, making them produce the taste receptors,and adding the flavor ingredient to them to see how much they are stimulated . Once they have an idea what stimulant to use and how much, those amount of stimulant goes in the Pepsi. So, the cells are used for testing only. It is like, mice are used to test dose/efficacy of drug, then they determine the amount of drug, and prescribe it for humans, does that mean there are dead mice parts in the drug? No. Similar is the case here.
Just an aside, once the HEK-293 cell line is made (i dont know when it was made, probably 20 yrs ago), there is no need to make it again. These cells grow very fast in culture and you just freeze them in small vials and take them out as you need.
There is enough reason to hate Pepsi on moral issues, but this should not be one.
It’s still hideous. The concept alone, as applied to the FOOD & BEVERAGE industry, is hideous... and that there’s no requirement of full disclosure about the testing process makes it even more hideous.
The fetus is used much like a rat or other test animal..abhorrent!
I wondered why Pepsi tasted a little different than Coke. Makes sense now.
I made a joke about Hillary getting hungry and ordering baby back ribs from the Planned Parenthood three blocks away, and someone on this forum told me it was too soon.
Turns out, you can get your aborted fetus based food from any Pepsi vending machine.
Sick freaks.
The Nazis made lampshades out of the skin of Jewish people they killed in experiments. Even the Nazis didn’t stoop so low as to EAT THEM.
Arguably, the Jews could have left, or they could have fought back. They were adults.
These are children we are eating and drinking. Every day.
We’ve stooped lower than the SS.
I’ve noted before that it brings a new level of meaning to their old tag line “The Taste of a New Generation”.
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