April 14 2011:  Correction:

Kraft Foods/Cadbury Adams LLC is not the same as Cadbury Chocolate. There are Cadbury eggs that everyone loves to buy at Easter – check the labeling – if it says Hershey’s you can buy those delicious Cadbury Eggs with a clear conscience!   Cadbury Adams makes chewing gum and Halls cough drops…Some notable names are Trident, Dentyne, Freshen Up and Bubblicious.  See a list of their products  or download our flyer listing all the products.

April 5: Who’s Telling the Truth & Who’s Being Evasive? Read Responses from Senomyx Partners


For Immediate Release
March 29, 2011

Biotech company using aborted fetal cell lines to test its flavor enhancers

(Largo, FL) Children of God for Life is calling on the public to boycott products of major food companies that are partnering with Senomyx, a biotech company that produces artificial flavor enhancers, unless the company stops using aborted fetal cell lines to test their products.

In 2010, the pro-life organization wrote to Senomyx CEO Kent Snyder, pointing out that moral options for testing their food additives could and should be used.  But when Senomyx ignored their letter, they  wrote to the companies Senomyx listed on their website as “collaborators” warning them of public backlash and threatened boycott.  Food giants Pepsico, Kraft Foods, Campbell Soup, Solae and Nestlé are the primary targets of the boycott, though Senomyx boasts other international partners on their website.

Senomyx website states that “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.”

Senomyx notes their collaborators provide them research and development funding plus royalties on sales of products using their flavor ingredients.

“What they do not tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 – human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors”, stated Debi Vinnedge, Executive Director for Children of God for Life, a pro-life watch dog group that has been monitoring the use of aborted fetal material in medical products and cosmetics for years.

“They could have easily chosen COS (monkey) cells, Chinese Hamster Ovary cells, insect cells or other morally obtained human cells expressing the G protein for taste receptors”, Vinnedge added.

In writing to their collaborators, it took three letters before Nestlé finally admitted the truth about their relationship with Senomyx, noting the cell line was “well established in scientific research”.

After hearing Ms Vinnedge speak publicly on the problem, angry consumers began writing the companies. Both Pepsico and Campbell Soup immediately responded.

Shockingly, Pepsico wrote: “We hope you are reassured to learn that our collaboration with Senomyx is strictly limited to creating lower-calorie, great-tasting beverages for consumers. This will help us achieve our commitment to reduce added sugar per serving by 25% in key brands in key markets over the next decade and ultimately help people live healthier lives.”

Campbell Soup was more concerned in their response: “Every effort is made to use the finest ingredients and develop the greatest selection of products, all at a great value. With this in mind, it must be said 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.”

While Campbell did not state they would change their methods, still their response, gave Vinnedge hope.

“If enough people voice their outrage and intent to boycott these consumer products, it can be highly effective in convincing Senomyx to change their methods”, she noted.

Click here to read the response letters from PepsicoCampbell Soup and Nestlé letters (Letter 123)

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Need proof of Senomyx use of aborted fetal cell lines?  Here is the link to the on-line article for their patent on sweet receptors (they filed several separate patents for each of the different taste receptors). As it is lengthy and technical, we recommend you simply do a search in the document for HEK-293.

Write to Senomyx and Their Partners

 

Kent Snyder, CEO
Senomyx
4767 Nexus Centre Drive
San Diego, California 92121
(858) 646-8300
Email: info@senomyx.com

UPDATE!
Within 2 hours of our Press Release, Campbell Soup notified us they have severed all ties with Senomyx – write to thank them!

Edmund M. Carpenter, Chairman
Finance and Corporate Development
Campbell Soup
1 Campbell Place
Camden, NJ 08103-1701
1-800-257-8443
http://campbellsoupcompany.com/Feedback.aspx

Paul Bulcke, CEO
Nestlé USA
800 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, CA 91203
Nestle 818 549-6000
Email form: ttp://www.nestle.com/Common/Peripherals/Pages/ContactUs.aspx?country=United States of America

Jamie Caulfield, Sr.VP
PepsiCo, Inc.
700 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 10577
(914) 253-2000
Email form: http://cr.pepsi.com/usen/pepsiusen.cfm?time=5189878

Cadbury Adams USA LLC
Consumer Relations
100 Deforest Ave
East Hanover, NJ 07936-2813
(973) 503-2000
Email form: http://www.kraftfoodscompany.com/Investor/investor-contacts/investor_contacts_form.aspx?ft=invest&subj=Investor+Center

Mr. Torkel Rhenman Chief Executive Officer
Solae
4300 Duncan Avenue
St. Louis, Missouri 63110
Email form: http://www.solae.com/About-Solae/Contact-Us