The Good Works of “Children of God for Life”
Written by: Elizabeth/2014
Oath of God Ministries
2014
Oath of God Ministries would like to bring special attention to Debi Vinnedge, Executive Director of Children of God for Life, a non-profit 501C3 pro-life organization stationed in Largo, Florida. Over the many years, Mrs. Vinnedge has been monitoring the use of aborted fetal material used by pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology companies developing flavor additives, and cosmetic companies.
Although the remainder of this article provides a clear and well-deserved accolade for Debi Vinnedge, we must note that many of our readers have visited her site and after reading her post “A Catholic Response to Sola Fide: Saved by Faith Alone have indicated that her article does not properly represent the Protestant faith. We agree with our readers but remind everyone that Debi Vinnedge is not Protestant but Catholic and therefore might not have as clear a view of the Protestant faith or the scriptures that support that faith. Nevertheless, we do urge our readers to visit her website to obtain edifying updates on both ethical and unethical vaccines which is the sole purpose of this referral.
Recently Mrs. Vinnedge received the prestigious Evangelium Vitae Award for her pro-life efforts. It was presented to her by Cardinal Burke at the Catholic Medical Association (CMA) conference in Orlando in September 2014. She has both tirelessly and victoriously fought many Goliaths on the pro-life battle field. Although she has mobilized many other prolife organizations to support various boycotts, her Gideon army has oftentimes been no more than herself and yet she has triumphed over multi-million dollar corporations such as PepsiCo and Kraft by urging their respective Board Members to terminate their contractual agreements with Senomyx. This not to say that the war has been won or that the battles are over.
Senomyx is a biotechnology company whose researchers are currently developing proprietary additives to enhance a variety of flavors and smells in the foods that consumers buy on a daily basis. Senomyx’s new flavor ingredients emphasize the savory, sweet, salt, and cool taste areas, as well as ingredients that block bitter taste. Since a high consumption of salt or sugar is unhealthy for people to consume, flavor additives are incorporated into food products which mimic the sugary taste but without the presence of sugar itself. This is true for all the other flavors as well.
The flavor additive that is ultimately added to the food product need only pass minimum standards for safety as food additives are not regulated by the FDA. Senomyx’s flavor enhancers are “determined by the Expert Panel of the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers Association of the United States (FEMA). The FEMA Expert Panel GRAS assessment program for flavor ingredients has been in place since 1960, following the 1958 Food Additives Amendment to the U.S. Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, which exempts from FDA food additive review those substances that are generally recognized as safe by qualified experts. GRAS determinations can be made without notifying FDA.”(1) In other words, researchers monitor one another without much oversight by the FDA. Some members of the medical field remain concerned that many of these food additives or flavor enhancers are carcinogenetic in nature and remain harmful to our health.
Senomyx uses “proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems“(2) but where the receptors have been expressed by the use of HEK293 cells. It is the use of the HEK293 cells that concerns pro-life Christians. “The HEK293 cells are a specific cell line originally derived from human embryonic kidney cells grown in tissue culture.”(3) Please note that the embryonic kidney cells are NOT included in the finished food but instead are used to produce the receptors. Senomyx is engineering HEK cells to function much like the taste receptor cells in our own mouths. These same receptors as well as the overall technical process help to replace the traditional human taste testing methods previously used by Senomyx and still currently used by many other biomedical companies. The HEK293 cell line is easily purchased by both profit and non-profit organizations as proof of ATTC’s website where a non-profit organization can purchase human embryonic cell lines as low as $359.17 per flask. Many other companies also sell the HEK293 cell lines over the internet.
Where did the HEK293 cell line originate? “The line was cultured by scientist Alex Van der Eb, in the early 1970s, at his lab at the University of Leiden, Holland. The transformation was executed by Frank Graham, another scientist Van der Eb’s lab, who invented the calcium phosphate method for transfecting cells. The source of the cells was a healthy, aborted fetus. The name HEK293 is thusly named because it was Frank Graham’s 293rd experiment.”(4)
Senomyx considers its technology as state of the art. Senomyx’s own words best describe the processes it uses. “created proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems that provide a biochemical or electronic readout when a flavor ingredient interacts with the receptor. To enable faster discovery of new flavors, we integrated our assays into a robot-controlled automated system that uses plates containing an array of individual fluid wells, each of which can screen a different sample from our libraries of approximately 900,000 artificial and natural candidate ingredients isolated from plants and other sources. Our high-throughput discovery and development process allows us to conduct millions of analyses of new potential flavor ingredients annually. This efficiency is impossible to achieve using conventional flavor discovery methods. As a result, we have identified hundreds of unique potential new flavor ingredients that could not be discovered using taste tests alone.”(5)
Senomyx researchers; Xiaodong Li, Lena Staszewski, Hong Xu, Kyle Durick, Mark Zoller and Elliot Adler wrote a paper which was published in the (PNAS) Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America on April 2, 2002 where the HEK293 cell lines are mentioned. An identical piece of information was printed on February 14, 2002 which was communicated by Henry R. Bourne, University of California, San Francisco. Any terminology pointing to HEK cells or human embryonic cells has been highlighted in the below pdf file document.
PNAS-2002-Li-4692-6
please click on the above
In 2010 Debi Vinnedge, Children of God for Life, contacted Kent Snyder, CEO at Senomyx urging him to stop using HEK292 human embryonic cells as taste receptors for more acceptable models but without success. In due time, Mrs. Vinnedge subsequently wrote to several of Senomyx’s commercial partners such as PepsiCo, Kraft-Cadbury Adams LLC and Campbell soups. Victory with Campbell Soups was almost immediate. According to Children of God for Life’s website “Within hours of our press release, Children of God for Life received notice from Campbell Soup that they have severed their ties with Senomyx.”(6) 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.”(7)
Additionally on December 27, 2011 Kraft ended their contract with Senomyx and no product was brought to market. Children of God for Life received a letter from PepsiCo on April 26, 2012 announcing that “Senomyx does not use HEK cells or any other tissues or cell lines derived from human embryos or fetuses for research performed on behalf of PepsiCo.”(8) at which point the boycotted ended with PepsiCo.
Pepsico’s April 26, 2012 Letter
please click on the above
June 2013 Update on Senomyx Partners
please click on the above
The battle continues with pharmaceutical companies using HEK Human Embryonic Cells for a variety of vaccines. Children of God for Life continues to urge pharmaceutical companies to find alternatives. The non-profit (per the time of this written article) has stated its mission statement as the following:
Campaign for Ethical Vaccines & Medicines
Purpose
1) To petition the vaccine manufacturers to produce safe, effective alternatives for Rubella/MMR, Hepatitis-A and Chickenpox that are not derived from or cultivated on aborted fetal tissue. Further, in the event there is a lack of cooperation on the pharmaceutical companies’ part, Children of God for Life will seek to import alternatives from overseas through a formal IND application to the FDA (currently in progress).
2) To discourage the further production of vaccines or medical treatments that are derived from deliberately destroyed human life, including fetal tissue and Embryonic Stem Cell Research.
3) To encourage the use of alternatives where they are available and to educate the public as to how their family physicians may obtain these alternatives.
4) To uphold the individual rights of any person, who in good moral conscience refuses to use these vaccines due to their source.
Mrs. Vinnedge has written to President Obama, the CEO of Merk as well as the Vatican regarding vaccines which are derived from embryonic stem cells from aborted human fetuses. Her efforts to save the unborn are too bountiful to mention. Therefore, a link to her website is listed further below.
On June 4, 2003 Debra L.Vinnedge, wrote a letter to His Eminence Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger regarding the legitimacy of vaccinating children with medical vaccines that were developed using cell lines from aborted human fetuses. Mrs. Vinnedge was hoping to receive clarification from the Sacred Congregation of the Doctrine of Faith on the right of parents to oppose these vaccinations especially when the vaccines are mandated by law. Although the response was delayed due to the study involved, she did receive an in-depth letter from E.Sgreccia, dated June 9, 2005 stating the study was approved by the Congregation and could be used by her organization and shown to interested officials and other parties. A documented paper was also published in the journal “Medicina e Morale” and edited by the Centra di Bioetica della Universita Cattolica in Rome. Please find a copy of E.Sgreccia’s letter to Debra Vinnedge below:
Letter from His Eminence Cardinal Joseph Ratziner, Vatican City
please click on the above
Please visit Children of God for Life’s website to learn more.
Website
Footnotes:
(1) Senomyx website; Regulatory Process Senomyx Provides Additional Information Regarding Generally Recognized as Safe (GRASS0 Determination for Sweetmyx S617.
(2) Senomyx website; Our Technology, 2nd paragraph
(3) Wikipedia HEK293 cells as well as www.hek293.com/transfection-information/
(4) HEK293 Cell Line, human embryonic kidney cells, HEK293 Protocols: Cell Culture, Transfection, Protein Production, Origins of the HEK293 Cell Line:, paragraph 1
(5) Senomyx website, Our Technology, 2nd paragraph
(6) Children of God website,
(7)) Children of God website,
(8) Children of God website,