When it comes to food, when have scientists gone too far?
One of the topics that comes to mind is related to stem cells. There are two major concerns - stem cells from aborted fetuses that are used for development and stem cells from animals that is used to make cultivated meat in a lab.
Stem Cells From Aborted Fetuses
People of faith have been against the use of the stem cell lines from aborted fetuses for a long time, yet they are still in use. There are at least 3 major lines - HEK293, WI38, & MRC5 (you can look these up for yourselves so you can verify anything I share in this blog and make up your own mind). They are mainly used for medical research, but there is at least one application in the food industry that I am aware of.
Scientists, companies, the government and MSM keep saying that the cell lines used today are not from the new sources of aborted fetal tissue, but from ongoing propagation of the original cells. They try to excuse the original sin that was committed in the 1960’s - 1980’s when the original cells were harvested from aborted fetuses. (Note: The scientists define a baby as a fetus after 9 weeks of gestation, so many pro-choice people that support a short window of choice will also view aborted fetal stem cell lines as being wrong.)
The scientists, companies, the government and MSM clearly do not understand the moral concerns that many of us have.
Morality of Advancement
Atheist scientists, companies, the government and MSM try to slam us for being ignorant, that we don’t understand science and aren’t open to progress. Even if we assume the companies and government are truthful in saying that there is no residual cellular or biochemical material in the products made with stem cells. The ethical and moral concern remains about the source of the cell lines - that these are from aborted babies.
These cell lines continue to be propagated and used in food and biotech research. By no means am I a specialist in this topic - but there are other sources for stem cells these days. On a voluntary basis without harming any babies, scientists can collect umbilical stem cells that are purely fetal stem cells. Given our concerns, why haven’t they moved the research over to more ethically sourced stem cell lines?
I know this is a rhetorical question - we know these atheists clearly don’t share our moral values and beliefs. The only way they will learn is if we hit them in the sales. Refuse to support products or companies that rely on this research. They will not listen to us any other way.
Here are vaccines that are made from aborted fetal cells -
We have a right for health freedom to make our own choices. If you are on the fence about vaccines, I hope this information will allow you to make a decision.
Stem Cells Usage in Flavor Development
I am aware of one patent that is held by a food company. There may be more, if you hear anything, even a rumor let me know in a comment below. Senomyx holds a patent that references HEK293 stem cell line and it is used in screening natural and artificial flavors. Senomyx is owned by Firmenich (one of the largest fragrance and flavor manufacturers in the world), which recently merged with DSM (a global ingredient manufacturer for health and nutrition products).
The "proprietary taste receptor-based technology" that they use for screening new flavor ingredients uses the HEK293 stem cell line. One of the first products Senomyx developed was Sweetmyx S617. More recently they developed a refined extract of monk fruit, siratose. Being owned by such a major organization and reading the press releases related to the acquisition of Senomyx, Firmenich was excited about how this would help their discovery. This implies that many flavors or flavor enhancers commonly used in foods may have been "discovered" by this technology.
Power of Personal Choice
I'll let you sort through what this means for you and your food choices / shopping habits. I am giving you enough crumbs so you can do your own research and make your own decision. In the recent years. we've all learned that there is a line of truth in some internet rumors.
As my husband and I sorted through the information available, this led to my husband & I giving up on some of our favorite brands of snacks and beverages just to be safe. We also did like how the company that used Sweetmyx S617 did not inform the consumer, so have decided not to support any of the brands.
Stem Cells in Cultivated Meat
This is an upcoming field of research. Unfortunately there are many start ups working on this. I am surprised at some of the funding they've been able to acquire. These companies believe that they can "save the planet" with meat made from stem cells! The reason there are problems with industrial animal husbandry is because the farm became a factory and took the animals out of a natural setting. The meat and dairy lack nutrition or contains toxins (vaccines / antibiotics / steroids / etc) because of factory farm practices. In my opinion, take the factory out of farming and adopting more regenerative farming approaches will result in better outcomes than lab grown meat! Definitely we'll get tastier meat with higher nutrition.
These so-called meat products are on the market already in limited markets. They will be labelled as "cell-cultivated" so watch the ingredient listing for whenever they figure out how to do this on a broader scale and more inexpensively. Additionally, the USDA decided that this does not require labelling for bio-engineering and it is under discussion if these can be labelled organic. Watch for tricky labelling by the government regulators that do not believe in transparency and free choice.
God's Food over Laboratory Imitation
The beef, pork, chicken on my plate should be from an actual animal that had an opportunity to move naturally and eat naturally. In my opinion, trying to grow meat from stem cells in a lab is just scientists trying to be God. Who knows what extremes this technology can take in 20 or more years.
And then we have all the alternative protein companies trying to make meat from anything but an animal but they still want to call it bacon, sausage, etc. Or all the milk & cheese products out there that do not have any cow, sheep, goat or other dairy in them. Frustrating... but a different topic for another day.
In your opinion,
when it comes to the use to stem cell technology related to food, where do you stand? Leave a note in the comments.
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