Posted on 05/23/2012 10:36:05 AM PDT by JohnKinAK
A pro-life leader has won a victory in her efforts to convince soft-drink manufacturer PepsiCo to stop the use of aborted fetal cells in its research for enhancing the flavors of its products. Debi Vinnedge, executive director of Children of God for Life (COGFL), announced that in late April she had received a letter from Paul Boykas, PepsiCo’s vice president for Global Public Policy, confirming that the company will not allow the use of HEK-293 — a cell line derived from human embryonic kidney — in its partnership with Senomyx, the company with which it had inked a four-year, $30 million contract for flavor research.
As reported last November by The New American, a PepsiCo shareholder had filed a resolution with the Securities and Exchange Commission in an effort halt the company from contracting with Senomyx, which, according to documents collected by Vinnedge, used cell lines derived from aborted babies in its process of producing artificial flavor enhancers. According to a report by LifeNews.com at the time, Pepsi had “ignored concerns and criticism from dozens of pro-life groups and tens of thousands of pro-life people who voiced their opposition to PepsiCo contracting with biotech company Senomyx even after it was found to be testing their food additives using fetal cells from abortions.”
But after a nearly year-long campaign led by COGFL that included a nationwide boycott of PepsiCo products, in late April Boykas sent a letter to Vinnedge assuring her that PepsiCo would not “conduct or fund research — including research performed by third parties — that utilizes any human tissue or cell lines derived from embryos or fetuses.” Boykas also assured Vinnedge that “Senomyx does not use HEK cells or any other tissues or cell lines derived from human embryos or fetuses for research performed on behalf of PepsiCo.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thenewamerican.com ...
Meant “transitive” too many distractions around here, dang ol work anyway.
They are using KIDNEY cells for goodness sake.
A good empirical scientist would surely try taste buds and olfactory cells (flavors include odors that are sensed from the contents of the mouth); and any flavor chemist knows there are greatly disparate things that still taste much the same — a kidney is tuned to just getting rid of the stuff in the urine.
I think the scientists need to be asked such questions. Is there something marvelous about the tasting ability of kidney cells of unborn babies that can’t be duplicated with donated adult cells?
They’re using cells harvested FORTY YEARS AGO for goodness sake.
Why should they go trying new cells when this chain gives consistent results? These cells are already there and wound up industry standard. Probably because nobody had bothered to harvest tastebuds, but since in the end they’re looking for bio-electric reaction it really doesn’t matter. You don’t care if the cells enjoy it, you just care if they react.
The only thing “marvelous” about it is that using the same cell cultivation gives you consistent results. The same reason they try so hard to keep lab rats genetically identical from generation to generation, they don’t want next year’s test results skewed because the platform (rats) the test happened on changed some how. They probably started using HEK293 for purely convenience or cost reasons (it was there and available), but they keep using it so that all tests have the same platform. Same reason I install all the same patches on my software test machines, don’t want 2 machines giving different results for the same test.
As if all cells could serve equally well in the stead of olfactory and taste cells?
Funny nobody told my taste buds for bitter that they ought to be able to respond to sweet and sour, and that my nose for a rose ought to be that for a skunk, etc. The sensory world would become a kaleidoscope of unpredictability!
It is implausible from an empirical point of view, though as a matter of mere science I would welcome seeing an explanation of how scientists coaxed these kidney cells into mimicking the capacity to recognize the similarity between various chemical guises of, say, a lime flavor, and to know that it isn’t a strawberry or vinegar or quinine. And I’d bet that much less than “40 years” went into that part of the study, and that if they could get a few golden tongues and golden noses to donate their bodies they could do far better with lines from that.
Surely you would want something that actually IS testing software, not just a fixed grep expression.
Hell exists, it is not hyperbole and Hell is full of people who spent their days on earth rationalizing evil.
I put my trust in God, not science. I would rather die a miserable death than receive one minute of earthly respite at the alter of a sin and the sacrificed (aborted) child.
By faith Moses, when he became of age, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin, esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt; for he looked to the reward. By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king; for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible.
Hebrews 11:24-27 (NKJV)
But Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified. Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”
Jn 12:23-26 (NKJV)
It’s about the cannibalism.
the only useless eaters I know of are in Washington, they are called congress, all 3 branches....there are a few good ones but not enough to matter...
It’s possible other cells might work better, but these were there and convenient. Remember they weren’t constantly harvesting cells from fresh abortions, these all came from the culturation of ONE tissue sample from ONE abortion in the early 70s.
It’s not 40 years going into “the study”, it’s a tissue sample that was taken 40 years ago and the keep it cultured and fed so it continues to reproduce cells that they’ve used for many thousands of studies, some commercial some not, in the intervening years. That’s the thing about tissue samples, treated properly they last forever.
Depends on the testing being done. If the goal is automation testing then we probably must have it (sometimes you can remote control), if the goal is manual testing then NO. If at all possible all you want on the machine is the the software to be tested and what it absolutely MUST have to run (target OS, 3rd party software it’s supposed to interact with) and absolutely nothing else, as any other software could be throwing DLLs or such around the skew the results.
Which spins right back into why they use these cells for testing, remove all variables that could skew things.
You’ve almost certainly received a lot more than one minute of earthly respite at the alter of a sin and the sacrificed child. We use these tissue samples for a LOT of research. Including medicine. There’s a reason this culture is still going 40 years later, it’s useful and it’s used A LOT.
Lots of things, life saving things, have evil actions at some point in their history. And no amount of Bible quoting will change that simple fact. You can stick your fingers in your ears and yell lalalalalala all you want, out here in reality we know that evil isn’t transitive.
Good and Evil are concrete, and they are defined by the ruler of the Universe.............GOD. EVIL and GOOD are not defined by scientists and their “ends justifies the means” logic that defies GOD and his word. You are not GOD, you will never be GOD, and despite your research you will one day die and face the judgement of the ONE who is GOD.
You can stick your fingers in your ears and ignore GOD, but eventually you will come face to face with HIM.
Just remember Jesus died for you sins, and you CAN BE pardoned for your evil by accepting his free gift and letting him into your heart. But to do so, you must forgo your PRIDE.
Nobody is saying the ends justify the means, what I’m pointing out is that bad means DON’T automatically cause the ends to be bad. If we ever cure cancer the testing is almost certainly going to involve cultures that came from human embryos at some point, bad means to be certain but the cultures are there and WILL be used, and millions of lives could be saved. Using your bad absolutist logic anybody that takes that cancer cure is evil. Using real logic we can understand that getting those tissue samples that made those cultures was bad, but they can be USED for good now.
We are all born with a sinful (evil) heart into a cursed world. It’s been that way since the fall of Adam.
You put your HOPE in Man....That Man may take bad and turn it into good. I’m here to tell you it can’t be done.
Romans 1: 18-22
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools,
So you no longer are making even the slightest attempt to use facts or logic, it’s all 100% unrelated Bible verse. Out in the world of debate that’s called “knowing you’re wrong but being completely unwilling to admit it”. Bye.
I still say big fig leaf for abortion, like the sadly failing attempts to treat with fetal stem cells what is successfully (if expensively) treated today with homologous (self donor) stem cells.
You will not confess that God has an ownership of what you’re putting in your flasks and test tubes.
A - I’m not putting anything in flasks and test tubes
B - ownership on a cosmic level has absolutely nothing to do with it
The only question is can good things come from tool acquired through bad. That’s it. And the only sane answer is yes, tools are tools, they are neither good nor bad, it’s what you do with them that counts. Yes it’s very unfortunate that kid was aborted 40 years ago, but that’s done. Now we have a tissue culture that’s been bred from a sample taken from that kid 40 years ago, it’s not even his tissue anymore, it’s millionth generation breeding from his tissue. Not using it now won’t put the kid back, and good can be accomplished from it.
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