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Last week I read an article that PepsiCo has a relationship with Senomyx, a research and development company that finds cheaper alternatives to flavors for food products. Senomyx’s goal, according to their website (senomyx.com), is to “…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.”
But what that company’s website doesn’t tell you is that it develops those ingredients through the use of aborted human fetal cells, specifically the cells that come from the baby’s kidneys. Let me be clear, there ARE NOT fetal kidney cells floating in your Pepsi, but the flavors in that Pepsi may have been researched and developed through the use of those cells.
That turns my stomach.
Pro-life groups, spearheaded by the Children of God for Life, have been voicing their concerns to Pepsi through letter-writing and social media campaigns since the spring, but Pepsi has refused to cut their ties with Senomyx. Campbell’s Soup once had a contract with Senomyx, but almost as quickly as people started complaining to them, they cut their ties. Maybe because the knowledge turned their stomachs as well, but maybe not. Maybe it was simply because they saw a great number of their consumers reaching for a different brand of soup in protest. But either way, they no longer work with Senomyx. I understand that Nestle cut their ties as well, just last week.
Pepsi, however, refuses to break from Senomyx. And so I will not buy Pepsi products. Their cavalier attitude toward the concerns of their consumers (and their shareholders, who have filed an SEC resolution asking PepsiCo to stop working with Senomyx) makes it easy to give up their brand of soda. To be honest, on the rare occasions that Hubby and I drink pop we do not reach for a Pepsi; Diet Coke is our go-to. But we will not buy anymore Gatorade, Sierra Mist, Mountain Dew, Mug Root Beer, Aquafina or Lipton products. Even if those flavors aren’t used in the drink--as in the Aquafina and Lipton products--the money I give them for those products supports the research practice.
Laine Doss from the Miami New Times researched the situation because of the outcry and believes that Senomyx uses cells cultivated in its own labs, not cells harvested from aborted babies. Doss explained it this way: “Think of the fetus cells as sort of ‘ancient ancestors’ to the new cells that are readily used today as ‘building blocks’ and receptors in many commonplace scientific experiments in universities, hospitals, and commercial labs.”
Is that possible? Yes. But my question is why would Gwen Rosenberg, vice president of investor relations and corporate communications for Senomyx (as introduced by and then quoted in Doss’s column), not explain this to Doss or Children of God for Life? Why not clarify that no, they don’t use cells harvested in morally questionable ways, but instead cultivate and grow similar cells in their labs? Instead Rosenberg’s responses always seem to skirt the issue.
So I will boycott Pepsi products. It is possible that one day I will be proven wrong and will be relieved to discover that we misunderstood their research and development and this was never really an issue. But I won’t have lost much. While not always the most expedient way to buy products at the grocery store, it is still rather easy to avoid Pepsi drinks.
(Also, on Saturday afternoon I’ll post the links on my blog [http://erinslittlecorner.com] to the articles I found as I researched this issue.)
Last week I read an article that PepsiCo has a relationship with Senomyx, a research and development company that finds cheaper alternatives to flavors for food products. Senomyx’s goal, according to their website (senomyx.com), is to “…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.”
But what that company’s website doesn’t tell you is that it develops those ingredients through the use of aborted human fetal cells, specifically the cells that come from the baby’s kidneys. Let me be clear, there ARE NOT fetal kidney cells floating in your Pepsi, but the flavors in that Pepsi may have been researched and developed through the use of those cells.
That turns my stomach.
Pro-life groups, spearheaded by the Children of God for Life, have been voicing their concerns to Pepsi through letter-writing and social media campaigns since the spring, but Pepsi has refused to cut their ties with Senomyx. Campbell’s Soup once had a contract with Senomyx, but almost as quickly as people started complaining to them, they cut their ties. Maybe because the knowledge turned their stomachs as well, but maybe not. Maybe it was simply because they saw a great number of their consumers reaching for a different brand of soup in protest. But either way, they no longer work with Senomyx. I understand that Nestle cut their ties as well, just last week.
Pepsi, however, refuses to break from Senomyx. And so I will not buy Pepsi products. Their cavalier attitude toward the concerns of their consumers (and their shareholders, who have filed an SEC resolution asking PepsiCo to stop working with Senomyx) makes it easy to give up their brand of soda. To be honest, on the rare occasions that Hubby and I drink pop we do not reach for a Pepsi; Diet Coke is our go-to. But we will not buy anymore Gatorade, Sierra Mist, Mountain Dew, Mug Root Beer, Aquafina or Lipton products. Even if those flavors aren’t used in the drink--as in the Aquafina and Lipton products--the money I give them for those products supports the research practice.
Laine Doss from the Miami New Times researched the situation because of the outcry and believes that Senomyx uses cells cultivated in its own labs, not cells harvested from aborted babies. Doss explained it this way: “Think of the fetus cells as sort of ‘ancient ancestors’ to the new cells that are readily used today as ‘building blocks’ and receptors in many commonplace scientific experiments in universities, hospitals, and commercial labs.”
Is that possible? Yes. But my question is why would Gwen Rosenberg, vice president of investor relations and corporate communications for Senomyx (as introduced by and then quoted in Doss’s column), not explain this to Doss or Children of God for Life? Why not clarify that no, they don’t use cells harvested in morally questionable ways, but instead cultivate and grow similar cells in their labs? Instead Rosenberg’s responses always seem to skirt the issue.
So I will boycott Pepsi products. It is possible that one day I will be proven wrong and will be relieved to discover that we misunderstood their research and development and this was never really an issue. But I won’t have lost much. While not always the most expedient way to buy products at the grocery store, it is still rather easy to avoid Pepsi drinks.
(Also, on Saturday afternoon I’ll post the links on my blog [http://erinslittlecorner.com] to the articles I found as I researched this issue.)
