Senomyx |

Update: Pepsi Shareholders File Complaint with SEC Over Research

November 1, 2011 By Nathan Cherry

by Nathan A. Cherry, 11/01/2011

Martinsburg, WV – Since May of this year I have been following this story of PepsiCo’s relationship with Senomyx, a company that uses aborted baby parts in their flavor research. Over the last six month’s I’ve written several updates to the original article as I have chronicled the progress of the boycott and demand that PepsiCo find alternative sources for research; rather than partner with a company using aborted baby parts.

Now, a new report out states that PepsiCo shareholders have filed a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission and PepsiCo over the company’s continued partnership with Senomyx.

Since it was first discovered that PepsiCo was partnering with Senomyx and allowing aborted baby parts to be used in flavor testing, an outcry from the pro-life community has been steady against PepsiCo. After requests that PepsiCo either ask Senomyx to use morally appropriate forms of research or sever their ties with the company were ignored, a boycott was implemented.

Pro-life groups from across the country that have joined in the boycott are:

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. LifeNews.com has joined the boycott call as well.

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About Nathan Cherry

Nathan Cherry is the chief editor and blogger for the Engage Family Minute blog, the official blog of the FPCWV. He serves also as the Regional Development Coordinator as a liaison to the pastor's of West Virginia. He is a pro-life, pro-traditional marriage, pro-religious freedom conservative. He is also a husband, father, pastor, author, musician, and follower of Jesus Christ.

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: abortion, flavor, Life, Pepsi, PepsiCo, pro-life, research, Senomyx

Update: Pepsi Boycott Seems to be Working

August 4, 2011 By Nathan Cherry

by Nathan A. Cherry, 08/04/2011

Martinsburg, WV – Not too long ago we brought you the story of a biotech research company that was using cells from an aborted baby in its flavor research for Pepsi Co. Use of unethical forms of research material prompted pro-life advocates and organizations to contact both the research company, Senomyx, and Pepsi to ask them to stop using the unethical forms of research.

You would think that in the midst of an economic downtime, when consumer satisfaction is absolutely essential to a company’s success, that Pepsi would be willing to reconsider their partnership with Senomyx and entertain alternative research methods. You would think.

Instead, Pepsi Co. decided to ignore the majority of Americans that are pro-life and opposed to unethical research and continue their partnership with Senomyx; who, incidentally, also decided to ignore requests that they seek alternative research materials. (By the way, the idea of drinking something with a flavor that has been developed using aborted human cells is disgusting.)

And, when a friend of the Family Policy Council of West Virginia contacted Pepsi Co. to share opposition to their unethical research materials, a silly form letter was sent assuring our friend that Pepsi Co. utilizes the “gold standard” in research. I didn’t know using aborted baby cells was considered the gold standard for researching drink flavors; that seems like an absurd conclusion.

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About Nathan Cherry

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: aborted baby cells, biotech, Boycott, flavor research, Pepsi, PepsiCo, Senomyx

Update Number Two: A Doctor Explains Why Pepsi is Wrong

June 3, 2011 By Nathan Cherry

by Nathan A. Cherry, 06/03/2011

Martinsburg, WV – This was sent to me this week in regards to the current boycott of PepsiCo as a result of their partnership with Senomyx – the corporation that uses aborted baby tissue to test flavors for food. No need for me to explain it, it speaks very capably for itself. Bottom line, what Senomyx is currently doing is unethical and morally objectionable.

Explaining the Science Behind the Pro-Life Boycott of Pepsi

by Gerard Nadal, Ph.D.

There is a growing chorus from within the pro-life movement against PepsiCo for their use of a cell line (derived from a baby aborted in the 1970?s) for testing response to new flavors in the lab. This is biologically straightforward, and ethically problematic. From a consumerist and moral perspective, it’s even murkier. Pepsi is just the tip of the iceberg. Let’s build the argument from the biological level, upward.

BIOLOGY

Taste testing is as simple as stimulus and response. We eat/drink something new, and our taste buds either love us, or hate us for the experience. If we zoom in closer on the taste buds of the tongue, we would see that they are made up of many cells. If we zoom in even further on the cells, we come to the apparatus at the surface of the cell responsible for interacting with molecules in food, and creating a response within the cell that will be transmitted to the brain.

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About Nathan Cherry

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: aborted baby tissue, abortion, Boycott, flavor research, HEK 239, Pepsi, PepsiCo, Senomyx

Update: PepsiCo Doesn’t Care What You Think

June 3, 2011 By Nathan Cherry

A letter response from one of our friends indicates they aren’t listening.

by Nathan A. Cherry, 06/03/2011

Martinsburg, WV – The other day I brought you the story of PepsiCo and their relationship with a company that uses aborted baby tissue in flavor research. I don’t see how aborted baby tissue is supposed to help develop flavor for PepsiCo, but regardless of that question it’s morally wrong. PepsiCo is, in essence affirming abortion as a company. And many pro-life Pepsi drinkers let them know about it. I wish I could say they cared, but it seems they are just going to try and sweep it under the rug.

A friend of the Family Policy Council of West Virginia decided to contact PepsiCo to let them know how unhappy he was to learn of the unethical practices of the research firm Senomyx that PepsiCo has aligned itself. Here is the response he got from the “Pepsi Consumer Relations” department:

“Thank you for contacting us to share your sincere concerns.

Please be assured that PepsiCo is committed to using only the highest ethical methods in all aspects of our research. This is something we take very seriously, and we hold ourselves and all of our research partners to the same high standards as the world’s leading research centers.

With respect to the flavor discovery research with Senomyx, we utilize techniques that have been the gold standard for several decades by top universities, hospitals, U.S. government agencies, food and beverage companies, and essentially every pharmaceutical and biotech company in the world. Yet, there is some misinformation being circulated meant to distort what we’re doing and question our motives and those of other companies. This is unfortunate, and it is certainly not reflective of the work we are doing.

We hope this information is helpful and reassuring. Thank you again for reaching out to us and allowing us to clarify the situation.”

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About Nathan Cherry

Filed Under: Life Tagged With: aborted baby tissue, abortion, flavor research, Pepsi, PepsiCo, pro-life, Senomyx

Coke or Pepsi? An Age-Old Question Takes a Serious Turn

May 31, 2011 By Nathan Cherry

by Nathan A. Cherry, 05/31/2011

Martinsburg, WV – I don’t drink much soda-pop since I don’t drink caffeine. Though on occasion I will splurge and have something. I have my favorites, as I am sure you do as well. One of the age-old battles, much like Ford vs. Chevy and Apple vs. Microsoft is Coke vs. Pepsi. And, up to now it has simply been a matter of preference. But the question is more serious since it has been revealed that Pepsi is using aborted baby tissue in their flavor research! Nope, that’s not a typo, Pepsi has partnered with a company that uses tissue from aborted baby’s to research flavors.

Lifenews.com recently brought to light that “biotech company Senomyx was found to be testing their food additives using fetal cells from abortions.”

The company offers the following explanation of their research practices on their website:

“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.”

But Debi Vinnedge of the pro-life group Children of God for Life says there’s more to the story. Vinnedge told LifeNews.com that other options exist for research.