Are there embryos in pepsi
The bill , introduced by Sen. Ralph Shortey, is pretty limited. Outside the legalese pertaining to the bill's statute number, it contains 42 words:. No person or entity shall manufacture or knowingly sell food or any other product intended for human consumption which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which used aborted human fetuses in the research or development of any of the ingredients. What is happening is that Senomyx , a company that's been working with PepsiCo on flavor development since , patented a technology for which it did some stem cell research, and that has some pro-lifers campaigning for a boycott of PepsiCo.
Back in October, the pro-life site LifeNews. Mentions of Pepsi's relationship with Senomyx, and pro-lifers disgust at it, have been popping up in the pro-life community for a lot of , in fact. As the Miami New Times reported back in March , it all started with a group called Children of God for Life, which styles itself as a watchdog for companies using products that may have been developed using stem cell research.
Children of God for Life argues that any food made with technology that has anything to do with stem cell research equals dead fetuses. Senomyx hasn't actually done anything illegal, nor has Pepsi. By Reuters Fact Check. Beverages produced by PepsiCo do not contain aborted fetal cells. The post presents no evidence and plays into misinformation on these products that has been in circulation for years.
The cells were called HEK here. Laine Doss March 31, AM. The Christian media is swarming with accusations that Senomyx , a San Diego-based research and development company, whose clients include food heavy-hitters Nestle, Campbell's Soup, Kraft Foods, and PepsiCo, is conducting research with HEK , originally derived from human embryonic kidney cells.
These accusations began with an action alert issued by Largo, Florida-based Children of God for Life , a nonprofit, pro-life organization focused on the "bioethical issues of human cloning, embryonic, and fetal tissue research. If you recall junior high school biology, the mouth can really taste only five flavors -- sweet, sour, salty, bitter, and glutamate. The company is using isolated human taste receptors in the form of proteins to identify flavors and enhance them. Gwen Rosenberg, vice president of investor relations and corporate communications for Senomyx, described the process as "basically a robotic tasting system.
A protein is placed in each indentation, then a flavor. If the protein reacts to the flavor, the results are charted. If the new flavor of which the company has more than , is successful with the protein test, the company then conducts taste tests with live adult humans. Asked about the action alert, Rosenberg said, "We don't discuss details of our research, but you won't find anything on our website about HEK We're dedicated to finding new flavors to reduce sugars and reduce salt.
Our focus is to help consumers with diabetes or high blood pressure have a better quality of life. So what exactly is HEK? It's a cell line that started in the s from human embryonic kidney cells. The line was cultured by scientist Alex Van der Eb in the early s at his lab at the University of Leiden, Holland. Since then, the cell line has been cultured and grown in laboratories you can buy some here.
It's primary use is as a protein or a protein vessel -- sort of a natural test tube. In short, maybe not such a big deal.