Moral Outcry is the blog for the pro-life organization Bound4Life, which featured an article this morning revealing the fact that aborted baby cells are being used in the research and development of flavourings for several major food and beverage companies. Companies we probably use several products of per day, including Kraft, Nestle, and PepsiCo.
To clarify exactly what this means: Pepsi products do not contain aborted baby cells, however, PepsiCo partners, collaborates and funds the biotech company Senomyx, which uses aborted fetal cells in the research and development of artificial flavour enhancers. Pepsi funds this as well as pays royalties to Senomyx "which uses HEK-293 (human embryonic kidney cells) to produce flavor enhancers for Pepsi beverages."
When this news broke last spring ProLife groups called for a boycott of PepsiCo.
Often, people all but roll their eyes when they hear stories like this about anti-abortion groups boycotting this and making a lot of noise about that... sadly, even a lot of Christians would rater not be associated with "outrageous" statements, and even fear being perceived as being "intolerant". Does Christ tolerate it? Does God, after weaving a child together lovingly in the mothers womb, sit back and shrug when that child is ripped from the womb, aborted, and it's remains used to discover delicious alternatives to MSG and sugar? No, it angers God and in fact is forbidden in the bible (read Lev 18:21, Deu 12:31, Deu 18:10). Christ=Life. Romans 8:2, "because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death." If you have chosen to carry the name "Christian" you have chosen to be a follower of Life. You're a little Lifer.
Therefor, indignation is an appropriate and healthy response to discovering that somehow it's okay for a research company to use aborted remains of a child (the human embryonic cells are obtained from electively aborted embryos, meaning a woman has chosen to have an abortion "and one of the ways in which the remains of her baby was disposed included acquisition by Senomyx who then used parts of this baby for research into a flavor additive.")
I'll take a paragraph directly from the Moral Outcry blog as I think it is very well worded:
Pepsi, Kraft, Cadbury, Nestle, Frito-Lay, et. al. are not the antichrist, so don’t read my words wrong, but part of being a faithful witness for Jesus and standing for truth is being able to withstand what is called the spirit of the antichrist which I John 4:3 says is “already in the world.” That spirit is a precursor to the end of the age when the real antichrist will come and, though it’s become a fictionalized account for movies and something we don’t look at seriously, the power of the antichrist to cause the masses to worship him is the inability to buy and sell without his mark.
If we can’t lay down our Pepsi or Doritos now, what might it look like when our lives depend on it?
Food for thought.
Within hours of our press release, Children of God for Life received notice from Campbell Soup that they have severed their ties with Senomyx. Stated Juli Mandel Sloves, Senior Manager of Nutrition & Wellness Communications at Campbell Soup Company,
"We are no longer in partnership with Senomyx. This fact was discussed during the Senomyx conference call with its investors earlier this month."
Unlike other companies that claimed they had no relationship with Senomyx, Campbell Soup had credibility. When they were contacted by US Mail letters prior to our press release, Campbell Soup noted that "the trust we have cultivated and developed over the years with our consumers is not worth compromising to cut costs or increase profit margins."
For a list of responses from other companies in partnership with Senomyx, check here.
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