Update II: As Subvet says in the comments, this wouldn't be cannibalism per se, but it is still a disgusting and unnecessary practice: As I read it, the receptors are used to determine the taste of the product and not to give it the taste it has. So it wouldn't be cannabalism.
Company Uses Fetal Cells from Abortions for Artificial Flavors
A pro-life group that monitors the use of cells from babies victimized by abortions is today bashing the biotech company Senomyx, which it says produces artificial flavor enhancers using aborted fetal cell lines to test their products.
The group Children of God for Life is calling for a public boycott of major food companies partnering with Senomyx.Debi Vinnedge, the director of the pro-life organization, tells LifeNews.com today that, in 2010, her group wrote to Senomyx CEO Kent Snyder and pointed out that moral options for testing their food additives could and should be used. But when Senomyx ignored her letter, the group wrote to the companies Senomyx listed on their website as “collaborators” warning them of public backlash and threatened boycott. They included food giants PepsiCo, Kraft Foods, Campbell Soup, Solae and Nestlé. (See update below.)
“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.”
Vinnedge says a boycott is important because the collaborating companies provide Senomyx with research and development funding plus royalties on sales of products using their flavor ingredients.
“What they don’t tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 – human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors,” she said. “They could have easily chosen animal, insect, or other morally obtained human cells expressing the G protein for taste receptors.”
Vinnedge says she has contacted the food companies working with Senomyx, but said it took three letters before one company, Nestlé, finally admitted its relationship with Senomyx and company officials claimed the line of cells from abortions was “well established in scientific research”.
Vinnedge says she has contacted the food companies working with Senomyx, but said it took three letters before one company, Nestlé, finally admitted its relationship with Senomyx and company officials claimed the line of cells from abortions was “well established in scientific research”.
Both PepsiCo and Campbell Soup also responded.
PepsiCo wrote: “We hope you are reassured to learn that our collaboration with Senomyx is strictly limited to creating lower-calorie, great-tasting beverages for consumers. This will help us achieve our commitment to reduce added sugar per serving by 25% in key brands in key markets over the next decade and ultimately help people live healthier lives.”
Related Links
Campbell Soup officials told the pro-life group: “Every effort is made to use the finest ingredients and develop the greatest selection of products, all at a great value. With this in mind, it must be said that the trust we have cultivated and developed over the years with our consumers is not worth compromising to cut costs or increase profit margins.”
While Campbell Soup didn’t state they would change their methods, their response, gave Vinnedge hope.
“If enough people voice their outrage and intent to boycott these consumer products, it may convince Senomyx to change their methods,” she said. “Otherwise, we will be buying Coca-Cola, Lipton soups and Hershey products.”
UPDATE: Within hours of its press statement to LifeNews.com, the pro-life group received notice from Campbell Soup that the company has severed its ties with Senomyx. Juli Mandel Sloves, Senior Manager of Nutrition & Wellness Communications at Campbell Soup Company, told Vinnedge, “We are no longer in partnership with Senomyx. This fact was discussed during the Senomyx conference call with its investors earlier this month.”
ACTION: Contact the companies at:
Kent Snyder, CEO
Senomyx
4767 Nexus Centre Drive
San Diego, California 92121
(Email contact form here.)
Senomyx
4767 Nexus Centre Drive
San Diego, California 92121
(Email contact form here.)
Edmund M. Carpenter, CEO
Campbell Soup
1 Campbell Place
Camden, NJ 08103-1701
(Send feedback here. Facebook page here. Thank them for severing ties with Senomyx.)
Campbell Soup
1 Campbell Place
Camden, NJ 08103-1701
(Send feedback here. Facebook page here. Thank them for severing ties with Senomyx.)
Paul Bulcke, CEO
Nestlé USA
800 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, CA 91203
(Email and phone contact here. Facebook page here.)
Nestlé USA
800 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, CA 91203
(Email and phone contact here. Facebook page here.)
Jamie Caulfield, Sr.VP
PepsiCo, Inc.
700 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 10577
(Phone, and email contact here. Facebook page here.)
PepsiCo, Inc.
700 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 10577
(Phone, and email contact here. Facebook page here.)
Irene Rosenfeld, CEO
Kraft Foods/Cadbury Chocolate
Three Lakes Drive
Northfield, IL 60093
(Contact info here. Facebook page here.)
Kraft Foods/Cadbury Chocolate
Three Lakes Drive
Northfield, IL 60093
(Contact info here. Facebook page here.)
Mr. Torkel Rhenman Chief Executive Officer
Solae
4300 Duncan Avenue
St. Louis, Missouri 63110
(Contact info here. Facebook page here.)
Solae
4300 Duncan Avenue
St. Louis, Missouri 63110
(Contact info here. Facebook page here.)
Oh my God! That's so disgusting. What monster came up with this?
ReplyDeleteA relative of Dr. Mengele, perhaps?
ReplyDeletePardon me for being a hair splitter, but IMO citing the exact truth in this continuing battle is one of our obligations. If we engage in "fuzzy thinking/terminology" we'll only shoot ourselves in the foot.
ReplyDeleteAs I read it, the receptors are used to determine the taste of the product and not to give it the taste it has. So it wouldn't be cannabalism.
But it's still a vile, disgusting, evil practice that has absolutely no justification. I'll be contacting the appropriate CEO's. Thanks for the information
Subvet, thanks for explaining. I really don't know how this stuff works (obviously), so I appreciate those who can give a better explanation.
ReplyDeleteGod have mercy on the insane.
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy, sick, and evil! Would this be considered human liquidation experimentation (just made that up) since its not cannabalism?
ReplyDeleteThe cannibalism title was kind of misleading.
ReplyDeleteCell assays such as these are typically used as an alternative to animal research or human research. The embryo from which the cell line in question was derived was aborted in 1970 (before Roe vs. Wade). Tissue was extracted from the embryo and transformed with adenovirus. Typically, once a cell is transformed it becomes immortal, meaning it won't stop replicating after a set amount of replication cycles (fetal cells typically replicate 40-60 times before they "die off").
In a cell culture assay such as the one used by this laboratory, transformed cells are grown until a layer of these cells is formed (typically one cell thick) or in a suspension. These cells are then exposed to a particular flavor. Reactions of cells can be measured by analyzing the different proteins, etc. that are expressed or cell signalling pathways that are activated in response to the particular flavor. There are various ways that these things can be measured...but ultimately, the cells used do not end up becoming additives to a particular flavor.
As far as "well established" in scientific research goes...it's true. This particular cell line is used for a variety of health-related and, as this story shows, commercial research....and has been used for decades. There are used as a model for cancer cells in cancer research, etc. Also, chances are that this corporation isn't the only one who uses these cells or other cell lines. Also, I am sure that everyone here has either used a drug, product, therapy, vaccine, etc. that has, at some point started off with in vitro human cell cultures.
As far as using other cell lines (insect, fish, etc) it is not always possible to use these cells to accurately measure human cell responses using in vitro animal models. I mean, even human cell cultures aren't always accurate predictors of human responses. Cells may have different proteins and other materials expressed that aren't present in the human cell line....or they may react differently in a dish than they would in a living system.
I'm not advocating the research here...I am just hoping to get the facts straight before you start sending letters and making phone calls.
Barbara
http://thecatholicsciencegeek.blogspot.com/
Thanks Barbara, for a more comprehensive explanation than what Subvet provided. I did add Subvet's comment to the top of the post.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Your comment got hung up in spam for some reason, sorry for the delay.