PepsiCo and human embryonic kidney and Products

PepsiCo and human embryonic kidney and Products

This post is regarding information and opinions from different sources mentioned under the each topic. This post is is not at all my opinion but a view collected from open source called internet.

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.
This apparatus is pictured above, and is at the core of the ethical debate. The two solid green, parallel lines represent the membrane of the cell. The purple ‘signaling agonist’ at top left is our food molecule. It binds to a receptor molecule that only binds molecules of a very specific shape and size. That receptor then slides to the right and interacts with G-Proteins, which activate other molecules such as Inositol Triphosphate, which in turn triggers what amounts to the old “Mousetrap” game–a cascade of responses within the cell.
It’s more complicated than that, but that’s the fundamental mechanism in question here.


http://lifenews.wpengine.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/pepsico3.jpg


HEK 293 Cells

The Virtual Human Embryo

http://www.ehd.org/virtual-human-embryo/

PepsiCo employs the biotech company, Senomyx, to do their taste testing. Senomyx uses a line of cells that are derived from the kidney of an aborted baby in the 1970′s. The cell line is designated HEK (Human Embryonic Kidney) 293 (isolated and cultured successfully in the researcher’s 293rd experiment. These cells were isolated from the aborted baby’s kidneys and then grown and replicated in the laboratory in a liquid nutrient broth called cell culture medium. As long as one changes the broth periodically, the cells will continue to grow and divide.
In research, certain cell lines become the standard for use in a given field. Typically, the cells that become the standard, such as HEK 293 are remarkably stable, easy to work with, and provide reliable and repeatable results. These characteristics enable researchers to pursue tangential and parallel lines of research with great confidence in the relatedness of different labs’ results when the same cell line is employed. It assures us that we are all speaking the same cellular language, and not different dialects.
Hence the very thing that is a strength can also be a liability if cell lines have base and illegitimate origins. HEK cells are the standard in many fields of research. They are especially good at being used as “living test tubes” for creating proteins, such as the G Protein used in taste sensation.
Senomyx has been able to produce the G proteins within these cells and then isolate these proteins. They have then used these proteins in a proprietary construct to get a test tube response system to different molecules used in flavoring. Therein lies the tastelessness of the research method. The question is whether or not other cell lines exist, from which the same results may be gleaned, and how reliable these alternatives may be.

HEK293 Cell Line

human embryonic kidney cells

Origins of the HEK293 Cell Line:

HEK293 is a cell line derived from human embryonic kidney cells grown in tissue culture. They are also known, more informally, as HEK cells. This particular line was initiated by the transformation and culturing of normal HEK cells with sheared adenovirus 5 DNA. The transformation resulted in the incorporation of approximately 4.5 kilobases from the viral genome into human chromosome 19 of the HEK cells. The line was cultured by scientist Alex Van der Eb, in the early 1970s, at his lab at the University of Leiden, Holland. The transformation was executed by Frank Graham, another scientist Van der Eb's lab, who invented the calcium phosphate method for transfecting cells. The source of the cells was a healthy, aborted fetus. The name HEK293 is thusly named because it was Frank Graham's 293rd experiment.
The type of kidney cell that the HEK293 cell line is unknown, and it is difficult to conclusively characterize the cells post-transformation, since adenovirus 5 could have significantly disrupted cell morphology and expression, and embryonic kidneys are a heterogenous mix of almost all the types of cells present in the body. In fact, it has been speculated by independent researchers, including Van der Eb himself, that the cells may be neuronal in origin. This is possible, although most cells derived from an embryonic kidney would be endothelial, epithelial, or fibroblasts. Neuronal origin is suspected because of the presence of the presence of mRNA and gene products typically found in neurons.
hek293 cell culture hek293 cell culture

http://hek293.com/ 

A HEK293 Cell Database- put together by Gerry Shaw

http://webserver.mbi.ufl.edu/~shaw/293.html  

ETHICS
Let’s look for a moment at the problem of vaccines manufactured in aborted fetal cell lines. It has been suggested in some Catholic circles that the distance between today and the abortion from decades ago that established the cell line, and the proportional good to be gained and evil to be averted through use of the cell line vaccines can be sufficient to merit the use of the vaccines and attenuate complicity and culpability in the abortion. Some might agree, and some might disagree. I’ve heard Catholic bioethicists and clergy on both sides of this issue. But the issue begs a deeper question.
The more that HEK 293 is used (and it is used rather ubiquitously now), how many products are we morally obliged to refrain from using? How many medical treatments, with no ethically sound alternative, must we forgo? HEK 293 is used to manufacture proteins in thousands of labs, and is omnipresent. What do we do with a field already saturated by the use of aborted cell lines?
http://www.lifenews.com/2011/06/01/explaining-the-science-behind-the-pro-life-boycott-of-pepsi/

A Writer view on PepsiCo

Since this story has much to do with PepsiCo, I thought I would offer my personal opinion on this corporation. In my opinion, PepsiCo is a highly destructive corporation that is partially responsible for obesity, diabetes, depression and bone disorders among hundreds of millions of people around the world. Through its aggressive (and deceptive, in my opinion) marketing campaigns, lack of corporate ethics and ready willingness to exploit human beings for profit, PepsiCo has risen to be one of the most financially profitable yet ethically bankrupt organizations on the planet.

If PepsiCo were to disappear from the face of the earth tomorrow, humanity would be healthier the very next day. PepsiCo's brands include: (followed by my opinion statement about that particular brand)

Frito-Lay: Dangerous junk food that contributes to obesity, heart disease, cancer, depression and other serious diseases.

Pepsi-Cola: Toxic beverages that destroy bone mineral density and poison consumers with chemical sweeteners in diet drinks.

Gatorade: Crap sports drinks that contain artificial colors made from petrochemical derivatives.

Tropicana: A low-end fruit juice brand engaged in deceptive labeling for many of its products.

Quaker: This is perhaps the only tolerable brand in the PepsiCo portfolio. Oatmeal is essentially good for you, although instant oats and all the sugars found in many oatmeal products make it a rather high-glycemic food that's not recommended for most people (especially diabetics or obese people).
Source:
http://www.pepsico.com/brands/pepsi_cola-brands.html
http://www.pepsicobeveragefacts.com/

Ingredient Glossary At PepsiCo


http://www.pepsicobeveragefacts.com/glossary.php

Sweeteners at PepsiCo

http://www.pepsicobeveragefacts.com/sweeteners.php

Colors at PepsiCo


http://www.pepsicobeveragefacts.com/colors.php

Put it all together and you have a collection of some of the least healthy foods and beverages on the market today. When future historians examine today's epidemics of obesity and diabetes, they will no doubt scrutinize the role of companies like PepsiCo and Coca-Cola, both of which are partly to blame for modern disease epidemics. Both companies, by the way, continue to engage in routine marketing of junk foods and sodas to children.

Pepsico is a corporation that won't even list the acrylamide content in their fried foods. Nor will it publicly admit that high-fructose corn syrup has any link whatsoever to obesity. PepsiCo, in my opinion, is a corporation living in a deviant reality, unwilling to take responsibility for its role in poisoning the population through its toxic food and beverage products.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/021962_bottled_water_Aquafina.html#ixzz2FCEpfkup

Some info From US. Food And Drug Administration:

You may Read FDA Food Facts for Consumers:


http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm239035.htm 

Food Facts for Consumers:

http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm077286.htm 

Education Resource Library


Food ingredients & colors

QWhat is the difference between natural and artificial ingredients? Is a naturally produced ingredient safer than an artificially manufactured ingredient?
Answer: Natural ingredients are derived from natural sources (e.g., soybeans and corn provide lecithin to maintain product consistency; beets provide beet powder used as food coloring). Other ingredients are not  found in nature and therefore must be synthetically produced as artificial ingredients. Also, some ingredients found in nature can be manufactured artificially and produced more economically, with greater purity and more consistent quality, than their natural counterparts. For example, vitamin C or ascorbic acid may be derived from an orange or produced in a laboratory. Food ingredients are subject to the same strict safety  standards regardless of whether they are naturally or artificially derived.
Question: What is the role of modern technology in producing food additives?
Answer: Many new techniques are being researched that will allow the production of additives in ways not previously possible. One approach is the use of biotechnology, which can use simple organisms to produce food additives. These additives are the same as food components found in nature. In 1990, FDA approved the first bioengineered enzyme, rennin, which traditionally had been extracted from calves’ stomachs for use in making cheese.


http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/FoodIngredientsPackaging/UCM094249.pdf

Consumer Advisories 

http://www.fda.gov/Food/ResourcesForYou/Consumers/ucm085478.htm

CAI pressures PepsiCo to tell the truth

PepsiCo only agreed to tell the truth on their bottled water labels after being pressured by Corporate Accountability International (CAI), a non-profit organization that helps protect consumers from corporate abuse. See their website at http://www.stopcorporateabusenow.org

CAI rallied consumers from around the world to complain to PepsiCo about the current labeling of Aquafina, and thousands of consumers slammed PepsiCo's phone lines so hard that the company was forced to shut down call center operations. CAI told NaturalNews that within 30 minutes after the call-to-action announcement went live, PepsiCo's consumer phone lines were no longer being answered and would not allow callers to leave voice mails. Pepsi executives reportedly held an emergency meeting and made a decision to add the phrase, "Public water source" to Aquafina labels.

Obama agency rules Pepsi's use of aborted fetal cells in soft drinks constitutes 'ordinary business operations'

mouse

Pepsi's lawyers say Mountain Dew can dissolve a mouse


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034602_Mountain_Dew_mouse_dissolved.html#ixzz2FCFIHkDc

Avoid Any Products Containing Aborted Fetal Cells

Fetal tissue technology has evolved tremendously in the two decades especially in the area of treating various neural and endocrinal diseases.

However, serious ethical questions are being raised as to the source and procurement of the necessary tissue. While some experts in the medical community forecast unlimited potential for fetal tissue technology, others have expressed deep concern as to the limits to the ethical and moral dynamics of the issue.


Avoiding Foods, Beverages and Vaccines Containing Aborted Fetal Cells

Debi Vinnedge, of the pro-life group Children of God for Life, explained,

"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. They could have easily chosen animal, insect, or other morally obtained human cells expressing the G protein for taste receptors."
PepsiCo entered into a four-year agreement with Senomyx for the development of artificial high-potency sweeteners for PepsiCo beverages. Under the contract, PepsiCo is paying $30 million to Senomyx for the research and future royalties on PepsiCo products sold using Senomyx technology. When the prolife group wrote both companies requesting they use one of several non-objectionable, viable cell lines listed in their patents, Senomyx did not respond. PepsiCo did reply however and insisted that its use of the research from Senomyx would produce "great tasting, lower-calorie beverages."

The following products are manufactured using aborted fetal cells:



Source:
http://www.pepsico.ca/images/Gateway_BrandCluster1.jpg

PEPSI BEVERAGES

http://www.pepsico.com/brands/pepsi_cola-brands.html 
- All Pepsi soft drinks
- Sierra Mist soft drinks
- Mountain Dew soft drinks
- Mug root beer and other soft drinks
- No Fear beverages
- Ocean Spray beverages
- Seattle's Best Coffee
- Tazo beverages
- AMP Energy beverages
- Aquafina water
- Aquafina flavored beverages
- DoubleShot energy beverages
- Frappuccino beverages
- Lipton tea and other beverages
- Propel beverages
- SoBe beverages
- Gatorade beverages
- Fiesta Miranda beverages
- Tropicana juices and beverages

NESTLE PRODUCTS
- All coffee creamers
- Maggi Brand instant soups, bouillon cubes, ketchups, sauces, seasoning, instant noodles

KRAFT - CADBURY ADAMS PRODUCTS
- Black Jack chewing gum
- Bubbaloo bubble gum
- Bubblicious bubble gum
- Chiclets
- Clorets
- Dentyne
- Freshen Up Gum
- Sour Cherry Gum (Limited)
- Sour Apple Gum (Limited)
- Stride
- Trident

CADBURY ADAMS CANDIES
- Sour Cherry Blasters
- Fruit Mania
- Bassett's Liquorice All sorts
- Maynards Wine Gum
- Swedish Fish
- Swedish Berries
- Juicy Squirts
- Original Gummies
- Fuzzy Peach
- Sour Chillers
- Sour Patch Kids
- Mini Fruit Gums

OTHER CADBURY ADAMS PRODUCTS
- Certs breath mints
- Halls Cough Drops

NEOCUTIS PRODUCTS
This company produces anti wrinkle creams that contain cells from a 14 week gestation aborted male baby. Following is the list of the creams, but we recommend a full boycott of all Neocutis Products.

-Bio-Gel Prevedem Journee
-Bio-Serum Lumiere
-Bio Restorative Skin Cream

VACCINES
-MMR II (Merck)
-ProQuad (MMR + Chickenpox -- Merck)
-Varivax (Chickenpox -- Merck)
-Pentacel (Polio + DTaP + HiB -- Sanofi Pasteur)
-Vaqta (Hepatitis-A -- Merck)
-Havrix (Hepatitis-A -- Glaxo SmithKline)
-Twinrix (Hepatitis-A and B combo -- Glaxo)
-Zostavax (Shingles -- Merck)
-Imovax (Rabies -- Sanofi Pasteur)

OTHER MEDICINES:
-Pulmozyme (Cystic Fibrosis -- Genetech)
-Enbrel (Rheumatoid Arthritis -- Amgen)

Dave Mihalovic is a Naturopathic Doctor who specializes in vaccine research, cancer prevention and a natural approach to treatment.
Source:
http://www.sott.net/article/242726-Avoid-Any-Products-Containing-Aborted-Fetal-Cells 

 

Pepsi's 'Next' generation - Less sugar, more toxins!


Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/035646_Pepsi_next_generation_chemical_sweeteners.html#ixzz2FCH8W6Zq
 

 

Here is the ordered ingredient list for Pepsi Next, followed by some potential health complications:

Carbonated water - tap water containing fluoride, among other potential dangerous chemicals.
http://www.naturalnews.com/030123_fluoride_babies.html

High fructose corn syrup - promotes obesity and liver damage.
http://www.naturalnews.com

Caramel color - potentially cancer causing.
http://www.naturalnews.com/031383_caramel_coloring_cola.html

Natural flavor - can be quite literally anything.
http://www.naturalnews.com/035353_fruit_juice_soda_alternatives.html

Phosphoric acid - causes tooth enamel corrosion, almost as bad as battery acid.
http://www.naturalnews.com/021774.html

Sodium citrate - can cause muscle spasms, elevated sodium, and other side effects.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/315235-sodium-citrates-side-effects/

Caffeine - addictive, causes extra wear and tear on the adrenal glands, stress, and other issues.
http://www.naturalnews.com/012352.html

Potassium sorbate - generally non-toxic, but can cause side-effects to certain individuals.
http://www.buzzle.com

Aspartame - can cause cancer, mental disorders, headaches, weight gain, and a host of other health issues.
http://www.naturalnews.com

Citric acid - linked to the erosion of tooth enamel. Sodas are certainly not a healthy way to consume this ingredient naturally found in citrus fruit.
http://www.livestrong.com

Acesulfame potassium - yet another artificial sweetener, could cause cancer and thyroid problems.
http://www.naturalnews.com/028187_food_additives_dangers.html

Sucralose - causes poor 'gut health' by reducing the amount of 'good bacteria' in the intestines. Also causes weight gain, among other issues.
http://www.splendaexposed.com/articles/2009/01/new_splenda_suc.html

So the next time you consider knocking back a Pepsi Next or some other toxic heavily-marketed 'beverage,' consider the fact that there is absolutely nothing redeeming health-wise about it.

Drink filtered water instead.

In addition to the above links, sources for this article include:
http://www.pepsico.com

About the author:
Scott is a blogger, writer, and researcher whose primary focus is how to raise healthy kids despite a system and status quo that makes it as difficult as possible. He and his wife, Kim, live in the hills of east Tennessee with their four small children. He holds an MBA from East Tennessee State University. Scott and Kim blog about parenting, marriage, healthy lifestyle, nutrition, and homesteading at www.amorefieldlife.com. Connect with them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/amorefieldlife.
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