{"id":11168,"date":"2012-03-21T06:00:51","date_gmt":"2012-03-21T10:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.geneveith.com\/?p=11168"},"modified":"2012-03-21T06:00:51","modified_gmt":"2012-03-21T10:00:51","slug":"pepsis-use-of-aborted-fetal-cells","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/geneveith\/2012\/03\/pepsis-use-of-aborted-fetal-cells\/","title":{"rendered":"Pepsi’s use of aborted fetal cells"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I had assumed this was just a wild rumor, but Pepsi really is using the bodies of aborted children to make its products\u2013not for cannibalism but in product testing.\u00a0\u00a0 And the Obama administration has given its approval.\u00a0\u00a0 From Lifesite<\/em>:<\/p>\n

PepsiCo has come under fire from pro-life advocates because it has been contracting with a research firm that uses fetal cells from babies victimized by abortions to test and produce artificial flavor enhancers.<\/p>\n

Now, the Obama administration is set to face more criticism because an agency has declared that Pepsi\u2019s use of the company and its controversial flavor testing process constitutes \u201cordinary business.\u201d<\/p>\n

In a decision delivered February 28, the Security and Exchange Commission ruled that PepsiCo\u2019s use of aborted fetal remains in their research and development agreement with Senomyx to produce flavor enhancers falls under \u201cordinary business operations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nDebi Vinnedge, Executive Director of Children of God for Life, the organization that exposed the PepsiCo- Senomyx collaboration last year, informed LifeNews today that a letter signed by Attorney Brian Pitko of the SEC Office of Chief Counsel was sent in response to a 36-page document submitted by PepsiCo attorneys in January 2012. In that filing, PepsiCo pleaded with the SEC to reject a Shareholder\u2019s Resolution filed in October 2011 that the company \u201cadopt a corporate policy that recognizes human rights and employs ethical standards which do not involve using the remains of aborted human beings in both private and collaborative research and development agreements.\u201d\n

PepsiCo lead attorney George A. Schieren noted that the resolution should be excluded because it \u201cdeals with matters related to the company\u2019s ordinary business operations\u201d and that \u201ccertain tasks are so fundamental to run a company on a day-to-day basis that they could not be subject to stockholder oversight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vinnedge said she is appalled by the apathy and insensitivity of both PepsiCo executives and the Obama administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not talking about what kind of pencils PepsiCo wants to use \u2013 we are talking about exploiting the remains of an aborted child for profit,\u201d she said. \u201cUsing human embryonic kidney (HEK-293) to produce flavor enhancers for their beverages is a far cry from routine operations.\u201d . . . .<\/p>\n

\u201cThe company\u2019s 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,\u201d the Senomyx web site says. \u201cUsing 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.\u201dVinnedge explained, \u201cWhat they don\u2019t tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 \u2013 human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors. They could have easily chosen animal, insect, or other morally obtained human cells expressing the G protein for taste receptors.\u201d<\/p>\n

via Obama Agency: Pepsi Using Aborted Fetal Cells is Ordinary Business | LifeNews.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Comments from a source<\/a> that isn\u2019t pro-life, as such, focused instead on environmental and food issues:<\/p>\n

To be clear, the aborted fetal tissue used to make Pepsi\u2019s flavor chemicals does not end up in the final product sold to customers, according to reports \u2014 it is used, instead, to evaluate how actual human taste receptors respond to these chemical flavorings. But the fact that Pepsi uses them at all when viable, non-human alternatives are available illustrates the company\u2019s blatant disregard for ethical and moral concerns in the matter.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Pepsi is not the only corporation<\/a> doing this sort of thing.\u00a0 Senomyx\u2019s other customers include the pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Merck.<\/p>\n

So it has come to this:\u00a0 the commodification of aborted babies.<\/p>\n

Will Republicans go along with this, since it\u2019s a matter of corporate practice and they are committed to being pro-business?\u00a0 Will Libertarians defend this practice, since it\u2019s all free enterprise?\u00a0 Will Democrats who are normally critical of big business support these corporations, with pro-choicers not seeing a problem since they think fetuses are not human beings and since using fetuses as commodities reinforces a woman\u2019s right to choose?<\/p>\n

UPDATE:\u00a0 Read the comments for some facts that might put Pepsi and federal regulators (not the Obama administration as such) in a more positive light.\u00a0 But they also might not.\u00a0 You tell me.<\/p>\n

HT:\u00a0 Trey<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote><\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I had assumed this was just a wild rumor, but Pepsi really is using the bodies of aborted children to make its products\u2013not for cannibalism but in product testing.\u00a0\u00a0 And the Obama administration has given its approval.\u00a0\u00a0 From Lifesite: PepsiCo has come under fire from pro-life advocates because it has been contracting with a research […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,15,19,27,44],"tags":[72,299,533,585,833,1699],"class_list":["post-11168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-economics","category-ethics","category-government","category-life-issues","category-technology","tag-abortion","tag-big-business","tag-commodification-of-aborted-fetuses","tag-corporations","tag-fetus","tag-pepsi"],"yoast_head":"\nPepsi's use of aborted fetal cells<\/title>\n<meta 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