Aborted fetal cell lines used to produce food enhancers

[Guest guest]

                                                                                                March

29, 2011- ACTIONALERT

Biotech company using aborted fetal cell

lines to test food flavor enhancers

(Largo,

FL) Children of God for Life is calling for a public boycott of major food

companies partnering with Senomyx, a biotech company that produces artificial

flavor enhancers using aborted fetal cell lines to test their products.

In 2010, the pro-life organization wrote

to Senomyx CEO Kent Snyder, pointing out that moral options for testing their

food additives could and should be used.  But when Senomyx ignored their

letter, they wrote to the companies Senomyx listed on their website as

" collaborators " warning them of public backlash and threatened

boycott.  Food giants Pepsico, Kraft Foods, Soup, Solae and Nestlé are

the primary targets of the boycott.

Senomyx website states: “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....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.” 

Their collaborators provide Senomyx

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”, stated Debi Vinnedge, Executive

Director for Children of God for Life, a pro-life watch dog group that has

monitored the use of aborted fetal material in medical and consumer products

for years.

“They could have easily chosen animal,

insect, or other morally obtained human cells expressing the G protein for

taste receptors”, she added.

In writing to their collaborators, it took

three letters before Nestlé finally admitted the truth about their relationship

with Senomyx, noting the cell line was “well established in scientific

research " .

Both Pepsico and Soup also

responded.

Shockingly, 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.”

Soup was more sensitive in their

response: “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 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 noted.  “Otherwise, we will be buying Coca-Cola, Lipton

soups and Hershey products!”

See www.cogforlife.org/senomyxalert.htm

for mailing addresses of Senomyx and the food companies.