An Oklahoma lawmaker has proposed legislation to ban any use of fetuses in food in one of the more bizarre twists in the emotive US battle over abortion.
The bill comes after wild rumors began circulating online and among anti-abortion groups that soft drink giant Pepsi was using aborted fetuses in its products. The company has denounced the urban legend as completely false.
“PepsiCo does not conduct or fund research that utilizes any human tissue or cell lines derived from embryos,” company spokesman Peter Land said on Thursday.
The rumors were originally triggered by a patent application by a Pepsi supplier which cited the use of the HEK293 cell line in developing processes for an artificial taste-tester.
Originally derived from the kidneys of an aborted fetus in the 1970s, HEK293 is an easy-to-clone line of cells widely used in biotech research.
Oklahoma State Senator Ralph Shortey said he had researched the issue for about a year and is concerned there are no rules preventing the use of embryonic stem cells or fetal tissue in food and other products.
He introduced the bill in order to raise public awareness and prevent companies from engaging in any such “immoral” practices in his central plains state.
“It is not like I think companies are chopping up fetuses and using them as ingredients in food,” Shortey said in a telephone interview.
However, Shortey said the patent is proof that the supplier — Senomyx — has crossed a moral line by using “kidneys from aborted fetuses” as “taste receptors” to see how the cells respond to different artificial flavoring.
Biotech firm Senomyx did not return requests for a comment on the issue, neither did the US Food and Drug Administration.
Shortey’s draft legislation, which will go before the Oklahoma Senate next month, states: “No person or entity shall manufacture or knowingly sell food or any other product intended for human consumption which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which used aborted human fetuses in the research or development of any of the ingredients.”
‘CROSSING THE LINE’: China’s embassy in Seoul criticized US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson, asking if his ‘hostile’ remarks were authorized by Washington South Korea and the US are in talks over recent public remarks by the commander of US Forces Korea, Seoul’s presidential office said yesterday, after the comments drew sharp criticism from China. In a recent podcast interview, US Forces Korea Commander General Xavier Brunson described South Korea as “the dagger in the heart of Asia” from China’s east coast, prompting the Chinese embassy in Seoul to say that he had “truly crossed the line.” The interview came amid growing speculation that Washington might seek to expand the role of US Forces Korea in countering the growing regional influence of China, a key
SEEKING ORDER: Rodrigo Paz said that ‘anyone who wants to destroy the nation will have to deal with this president and the full force of the constitution’ Bolivian President Rodrigo Paz on Wednesday said that the nation was at a “breaking point” after nearly a month of protests that have caused shortages of food, fuel and medicine. Paz, who took office six months ago amid the worst economic crisis there in four decades, is battling a groundswell of fury over his policies. The political capital, La Paz, has been besieged by low-income workers and members of the indigenous majority calling for his resignation. “The country needs order and is reaching breaking point,” the 58-year-old said at a public event in La Paz, renewing his appeal for dialogue. On Tuesday, the Bolivian
Through the noise of rushing papers and whirring belts at a print factory in Kyoto, two creators watch their photo essay come to life in broadsheet form — part of an effort to win new audiences in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). Despite the decline of the publishing industry, self-publication and handmade “zine” magazines are growing in popularity in Japan, reflecting the nation’s enduring love of paper in the digital era. While speaking to Agence France-Presse at the plant, his hands black with ink, one of the creators, Kazuma Obara, said: “I think [paper] is a medium that engages all five
Australian researchers have trained lab-grown brain cells on a silicon computer chip to play the 1990s shooter game Doom and said they are just scratching the surface of what the neurons could be capable of doing. It is the science-fiction work of biotech boffins at Cortical Labs, who researched and developed the technology that harnesses the workings of the brain’s networking system. Each so-called “biological computer” contains about 200,000 living human brain cells, grown from stem cells that were harvested from blood donations. Having mastered the simple computer game Pong, where a paddle is moved up and down to send a ball
RSS