So, did you hear the one about the fetal tissue in your soda?
I first heard about this issue when my niece Kari contacted me. She knows I drink Diet Pepsi and wanted me to stop because a known ingredient in pepsi (aborted fetus kidneys).
WOAH! WHAT?????
I did a quick research. There are many, many internet sites addressing this issue. The ones I chose to use in the post is The Children of God For Life and
Forbes.com. Going forward - references for
Children of God will be in
GREEN and
Forbes will be in
RED.
This is what I understand:
Senomyx, who has a contract with Pepsico, has been using new technology to create food additives. They use HEK cells along with other receptors to allow them to test different additives to see whether they taste sweet, sour, spicy etc…
"The fetus-derived cell line we're talking about was also created around the time I was born. This is a 35-year-old technology. And it is widely used in cell biology. And there is no way you'll consume them or that the cells would cause any health problems."
We won't be drinking aborted fetus kidneys after all.
"Whether a cell line is taken from an abortion done today, yesterday, a year ago or 30 years ago makes no difference. It is still a human cell line, fetal in character with complete DNA intact from the original aborted child. Anything less would render it useless for human applications. It is also not an embryonic stem cell. It is fetal age kidney cells, that is, it was derived from an aborted baby beyond 8 weeks gestation. Morally, it makes no difference whether or not an abortion was done 30 years ago or today either. Time does not diminish the original act of evil, nor does it lessen the culpability those who knowingly and willingly utilize the remains of aborted children for profit."
GROSS, but they do have a point.
"The cells, called HEK 293 cells (that stands for human embryonic kidney) were taken from an aborted fetus in the 1970s in the Netherlands. Bits of chopped up DNA from the adenovirus, a virus that causes a pretty severe cold. The kidney cells were forced to take up bits of DNA using a technique invented in 1973 that used a calcium solution. The resulting cells don’t act much like human cells at all, but they are very easy to work with and have become workhorses of cellular biology. That’s why they’re used in the development of drugs and vaccines. (Here’s the original paper on the creation of the HEK cells. ) No new fetal tissue has been used to keep the cell culture going; the use of this cell line isn’t leading to new abortions."
From what I have gathered, the HEK 293 cells have been used to help find vaccines for the chicken pox, rubella and hepatitis A. Also drugs for cystic fibrosis and rheumatoid arthritis.
"To non-scientists this may sound a bit strange, but the reality is that HEK 293 cells are widely used in pharmaceutical research, helping scientists create vaccines as well as drugs like those for rheumatoid arthritis. The difference here is that Senomyx’s work for Pepsi is one of the first times the cells have (potentially) been used to create a food or beverage. (And it’s important to note that no part of a human kidney cell are ever a part of Senomyx’s taste enhancers or any finished food products.)"
STOP! The Children of God for Life just admitted "NO part of a human kidney cell are ever a part of taste enhancers or any finished food product".
"For Debi Vinnedge, who runs the anti-abortion group Children of God for Life, that doesn’t matter. “It’s the eeew factor. It strikes a really strong reaction in people,” she said in an interview. She points to the fact that one of Senomyx’s patents (not one for a product Pepsi would be using) refers to the way company scientists used mifepristone to get unstable HEK cells to respond — mifepristone being more commonly known as RU-486, the abortion pill."
After reading that The Children of God for Life admitted that human (aborted fetus' are considered human by this group) I feel as if I was being lead astray.
Debi did get one thing right. It is the "eeew factor" that gets people to react. In fact when it comes down to it, this is basically a marketing scheme created by groups to scare people into passing a bill banning stem cell research.
Nobody is putting "aborted fetuses" in soda. "Synomix has isolated receptors found on cells that detect taste, and added them to the HEK cells. This allows them to test thousands of potential taste additives to see whether they might taste sweet or savory with a speed that would be impossible with human taste testers." That's all. They're not even IN the soda.
More information pertaining to The Children of God for Life click
here.
More information pertaining to Forbes and Biotech, you can read here.
My opinion pertaining to this post does not reflect my views on
abortion or the right to choose.
We all have different opinions. I will respect yours if you kindly respect mine.
Derogatory comments will be deleted.