Posted on 05/26/2011 11:25:27 AM PDT by GonzoII
2011-05-25
For Immediate Release May 25, 2011
Pro-Life Groups Call for Pepsi Boycott over Aborted Fetal Cell Lines
(Largo, FL) Scores of prolife groups are calling for a public boycott of food giant, PepsiCo due to their partnership with Senomyx, a biotech company using aborted fetal cells in the research and development of artificial flavor enhancers.
Pepsi is funding the research and development and paying royalties to Senomyx which uses HEK-293 (human embryonic kidney cells) to produce flavor enhancers for Pepsi beverages.
Senomyx boasts they have over 800,000 unique flavors for foods. The human tongue recognizes only 5 (salty, savory, sweet, sour and bitter). But cells expressing certain proteins produce a chemical signal when the flavors are introduced, which determines if they have achieved the proper flavor. The aborted fetal cells are not in the product itself.
There are many options PepsiCo could be using instead of aborted fetal cells, including animal, insect, or other morally obtained human cells, noted Debi Vinnedge, President of Children of God for Life, the group spearheading the boycott. The revelationa potential public relations nightmaremotivated Campbell Soup to sever all relations with Senomyx.
However, PepsiCo continues their business relationship despite the abortion connection. Their response earlier this year drew public ire when they wrote that our collaboration with Senomyx is strictly limited to creating lower-calorie, great-tasting beverages for consumers.
When pressed further, PepsiCo attempted to pacify angry consumers with a form letter response in which they insinuated they had been accused of conducting aborted fetal tissue research. Their duplicity again drew public outrage.
Bradley Mattes, executive director of Life Issues Institute, said, While aborted fetal cells arent actually in the product itself, the close relationship is enough to repulse most consumers. To our knowledge, this is the first time a food product has been publicly associated with abortion.
The pro-life groups noted that additional companies collaborating with Senomyx will likely be targeted for boycott at a later date. See www.cogforlife.org/senomyxalert.htm for more information.
Pro-life organizations are asking the public to boycott all Pepsi drink products and encourage consumers to contact Pepsi management requesting that they sever all ties with Senomyx. Consumers are also encouraged to contact Campbell Soup and thank them for responding to pro-life concerns.
Jamie Caulfield, Sr. VP
PepsiCo, Inc.
700 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 10577
(914) 253-2000
Email form: http://cr.pepsi.com/usen/pepsiusen.cfm?time=5189878
Edmund M. Carpenter, Chair, Corporate Development
Campbell Soup
1 Campbell Place
Camden, NJ 08103-1701
1-800-257-8443
Email form: http://campbellsoupcompany.com/Feedback.aspx
Pro-life groups joining Children of God for Life in the boycott to date are: American Life League, Life Issues Institute, Concerned Women for America, Colorado Right to Life, American Right to Life, Sound Choice Pharmaceutical Institute, ALL Arizona, Central Nebraskans for Life, Pro-Life Waco, Houston Coalition for Life, Mother and Unborn Baby Fox Valley, Womankind, Billboards for Life, Movement for a Better America, Defenders of the Unborn, Focus Pregnancy Help Center, Idaho Chooses Life, EMC Frontline Pregnancy Centers of NY, Four Seasons for Life, CREDO, Life Choices, STOPP Dallas, CA Right To Life, Human Life Alliance, International Right to Life Federation, Operation Rescue and Pro-Life Nation.
now -> not
Just when you think things can't get lower...
Is this confirmed? If so, I will stop buying Mt. Dew
Pepsi-Cola hits the spot
Six full ounces, that’s a lot
Every serving that you pour
Killed a baby, maybe more.
It’s as demonic as it gets.
Isn’t Nestle also in on this, or maybe they hopefully dropped out.
I wonder why Pepsi is so stubborn about this.
Freep-mail me to get on or off my pro-life and Catholic List:
Please ping me to note-worthy Pro-Life or Catholic threads, or other threads of general interest.
The latest partnership was dated August 17, 2010 and the news release is still posted on the websites of both corporations.
Boycott for me.
And they’re using fetal kidney cells (gotten from aborted fetuses) to “taste test” their sodas? I’d really like to know how this is supposed to work. Too chintzy to use normal quality control methods? As a nonsmoker and nondrinker with normal taste buds, I’d be happy to taste test all the Pepsi they want as long as Pepsi sends it to me.
Has it hit the attention of the Vatican yet? Wait till the Pope says that Coke is pro-life. You’ll see Pepsi scurrying away from this like a mouse from a housecat.
First time that merely reading a story triggers my gag reflex. How disgusting.
Frankly, I'd like to take a pass on that. The utter ghoulishness of it all is really sickening to me.
Thanks for the address. I wrote to protest the fetal cell use.
How did we become a country in which this is not a capital offense?
How did we become a country in which a woman named Indra Nooyi is in charge of one of our biggest companies?
Geert Wilder nailed it: “Multiculturalism made us tolerate the intolerant, and now intolerance is annihilating tolerance.”
The bottom line is that we've drifted away from our Creator.
These are basic categories, not an exhaustive list of flavors that the human tongue can recognize.
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