(Untitled)

[interactiveleaf]

So an Oklahoma Senator (Republican, natch) has introduced a law that aborted human fetuses cannot be used in food products.

To my mind, the money quote from the article is

In an e-mail to The Associated Press, U.S. Food and Drug Administration spokeswoman Pat El-Hinnawy said: "FDA is not aware of this particular concern."
followed closely by

Comments

[conuly]

Unless the law actually says it's targeting kosher products, I call that stupidity.

Blood libel, surprisingly, is earliest recorded as being used against Christians due to the early Christian practice of rescuing and adopting infants that had been left out to die of exposure. That combined with rumors of what communion really entailed... well... yeah.

But it's been used against other groups, is my point, and not solely the Jews, though they've probably been hardest hit by that stupid story.

[interactiveleaf]

I actually have sympathy for people who thought that early Christians were eating flesh and drinking blood at their Communions.

After all, that's what the Christians themselves claimed they were doing.

[conuly]

Yeah, the whole communion story is a bit creepy, even if you DO understand what's really going on. I get that it's not creepy to Christians, but....

[interactiveleaf]

I don't get why it's not creepy to them, and I'm pretty sure I understand it. The Catholics today, and the entire church for hundreds and hundreds of years, insisted that it was really, literally, flesh and blood they were ingesting.

Um, ew?

[stacycat69]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senomyx

The company has never denied using fetal cells, and has lost customers over it (so I would assume they would have confirmed that they were not used in order to see business.)

While I have no issues with abortions, this crosses into the "What the Fuck is going on with our food systems" line.

[conuly]

On the other hand, they might be refusing to address those allegations on the grounds that addressing them means acknowledging that the subject is up for discussion.

If somebody came up to me on the street and accused me of eating babies, I wouldn't give them the time of day, much less a solid answer.

[stacycat69]

Well, it's also true that they use human and fetal cells in their research.

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/01/why-one-oklahoma-senator-wants-you-think-there-are-fetuses-your-food/47819/ for a general overview.

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/01/transcripts/3750t1_01.pdf (page 77 discusses the origin of HEK-293.) http://www.google.com/search?q=Senomyx+hek-293&btnG=Search+Patents&tbm=pts&tbo=1&hl=en is google patent search of Senomyx and HEK-293 .

While there aren't actually human cells in the food, there are fetal stem cell lines being used in research.

[interactiveleaf]

I've never denied using fetal cells either.

Srsly, fetal stem cells =! aborted fetuses. A food patent based on technology obtained from studying stem cells does not mean that the company that obtained the patent uses aborted fetuses to make their food. Um. Did I really just have to say that out loud?

Also, medication developed from stem cells obtained from aborted fetuses will not actually mean that people who take that medication are eating fetuses. Yeah, I guess I really did have to say that.

Let's not get into the Wiki link, OK? Wiki is not a reliable source. I think you know this. Don't go there.

[jabber]

Well, that's the last dime HE'LL get in contributions from the Soylent Green Corporation.

[interactiveleaf]

*snicker*

[noveldevice]

Come to think of it, I don't believe that Soylent Green has issued a statement denying that their products contain people. :D

[conuly]

That's because it really is just soy and lentils, as described in the book.

[liddle_oldman]

Can't I click both?

I wonder if this guy hangs out with the one who worried about our putting so many troops on Guam that it would capsize?