Ralph Shortey, Oklahoma State Senator, Introduces Bill Banning Aborted Fetuses In Food

A Republican state senator in Oklahoma has introduced a bill banning aborted human fetuses in food, despite the fact that there are no known foods or food products that actually contain aborted fetuses.

Sen. Ralph Shortey of Oklahoma City introduced on Tuesday Senate Bill 1418, which prohibits "the sale or manufacture of food or products which contain aborted human fetuses." He says he based the bill on an article he read online about an anti-abortion group boycotting companies that allegedly use embryonic stem cells to research and develop artificial sweeteners.

“People are thinking that this has to do with fetuses being chopped up and put in our burritos,” Shortey told NewsOK. "“That's not the case. It's beyond that.

“There are companies that are using embryonic stem cells to research and basically cause a chemical reaction to determine whether or not something tastes good or not,” he said. “As a pro-life advocate, it kind of disturbed me that we would use aborted embryos or aborted human fetuses to extract stem cells and use them for research to basically make things taste better.”

PepsiCo did partner with food product development company Senomyx to develop a new low-calorie sweetener, but the company denied using fetal tissue in its research in an April 2011 email to Children of God for Life.

"Unfortunately, there is some misinformation being circulated related to research techniques that have been used for decades by universities, hospitals, government agencies, and private companies around the world. These claims are meant to suggest that human fetal tissue is somehow used in our research," wrote Margaret Corsi, a spokesperson for PepsiCo. "That is both inaccurate and something we would never do or even consider. It also is inaccurate to suggest that tissue or cells somehow are being used as product ingredients. That’s dangerous, unethical and against the law. Every ingredient in every one of our products is reviewed and approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration."

Neither Senomyx nor PepsiCo responded to The Huffington Post's requests for comment.

The FDA confirmed on Tuesday that it is "not aware of this particular concern."

Even if Senomyx did use aborted fetal cells in its taste testing process, Shortey's bill does not address that particular practice. It addresses the issue of aborted fetuses in food, which is a problem that does not exist.

As it stands, the bill has no cosponsors, and Oklahoma Senate President Brian Bingman (R) does not seem to be taking it very seriously.

"You can't control what a guy does when he files legislation," he said on Tuesday. "It's all a process, and at the end of the day you want to look at the final bills that are actually passed and signed by the governor.”

Comments

[Tiffany Locke]

01:48 PM on 05/11/2013

Oklahoma, vote this idiot out of office. You deserve better representation for your tax dollars.

[roads]

08:21 AM on 05/11/2013

Typical republican. Never let facts get in the way.

[dragon69]

09:55 PM on 05/10/2013

yet another stupid republican

[SusanBrinkley]

06:30 PM on 05/10/2013

Is he telling us that Soylent Green is PEOPLE??

[Mebejedi]

06:18 PM on 05/10/2013

Soylent Green is made out of people!

[AngryLiberalDude]

11:58 PM on 02/02/2013

I want my baby back, baby back, baby back.... baby back ribs....

Barbecue sauuuuuuuuuce.....

[Carol Ann Hunigan Booher]

10:33 PM on 02/02/2013

if this is not satire, then why cant the people fire politicians who waste time instead of sticking to the important issures

[Patricia Huelseman]

12:21 PM on 05/01/2012

The author of this article claims Shortey's bill merely bans putting fetuses into the food but that is not true. The bill, merely two sentences long, clearly states:
"No person or entity shall manufacture or knowingly sell food or any other product intended for human consumption which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which used aborted human fetuses in the research or development of any of the ingredients."
This is clearly aimed directly at companies such as Senomyx. There is no need to use the remains of people in order to get better tasting food. Bug cells, COH cells and other animal cells demonstrating the G protein are fine substitutes and do not have such moral implications

[Joe Walsh]

06:26 PM on 05/10/2013

"This is clearly aimed directly at companies such as Senomyx."
I assume you have some evidence that Senomyx is engaged in the practices that would be forbidden by this bill?

It looks to me like another case of a madman being elected.

[Dan DiLuzio]

04:31 PM on 02/26/2012

First, Laura, be a reporter. Try really, REALLY hard to read the bill, before writing about it. Heck, read a summary of the bill. The bill clearly does NOT state "food products", but DOES state "food and other products". Which include drugs. Cosmetics. PRODUCTS! Now, let's discuss this bill as a real issue - pros and cons - rather than a straw person set up by Huffington.

It's not just "taste tests"; it's Neuralstem, a Maryland company; ReNeuron, an English company; it's Merck and GlaxoSmithKline; it includes Senomyx's other "taste test" customers, like Nestle and Kraft.

Again, whether you are pro or con (I'm against it), why does Huffington find it so difficult to present the facts, as opposed to a fabricated story based on faulty reporting?

[SarahRN]

07:36 PM on 02/02/2013

Perhaps YOU need to read. It says "...product for human consumption." You don't eat cosmetics.

[Dan DiLuzio]

12:49 AM on 05/14/2013

Gosh, I really AM sorry. When I first read Section 1, I thought that the statement "No person or entity shall manufacture or knowingly sell food or any other product intended for human consumption which contains aborted human fetuses in the ingredients or which used aborted human fetuses in the research or development of any of the ingredients" was meant to include products "which used aborted human fetuses in the research or development of any of the ingredients". My bad; really DID make it seem like one of us hadn't read it, right?

[dragon69]

09:57 PM on 05/10/2013

im assuming you think other people are as stupid as you . get an education and try to stop being a republican its dangerous to your mental health

[Dan DiLuzio]

12:52 AM on 05/14/2013

A cogent, well reasoned and lucid response, dragon69. A fact-based and insightful person like yourself is certainly a credit to the position you espouse.

I am in AWE!

[mlfertig]

10:29 AM on 02/10/2012

OOOOk-lahoma, where the Nuts come sweepin' down the plain,

[mlfertig]

10:26 AM on 02/10/2012

I was wondering why my Sweet and Low was tasting even sweeter lately

[mlfertig]

10:25 AM on 02/10/2012

GOP hard at work again..We have to protect Americans from lunacy too..

[pondering11]

03:53 AM on 02/05/2012

According to LifeSiteNews.com :
"A Chinese manufacturer of injectable collagen for use in cosmetic lip and wrinkle treatments has admitted to a UK news source that the company routinely sources materials from the skin of executed convicts as well as from aborted babies. An agent from the company told a Guardian reporter posing as a prospective client that use of skin from these sources is not unusual in China."

Chinese "biotech" companies can produce human collagen for about five percent of what it costs to make it in the West, where collagen injections for lip enhancement are becoming increasingly popular in Europe, the United Kingdom and America.

http://www.renewamerica.com/columns/tabor/050929 , states:
"In case you missed the point, they are saying that the Chinese are making skin cream out of dead babies and prisoners, then exporting those polluted products to unsuspecting consumers in the United States and Europe. Now I ask you: Is that sick and disgusting, or what?"

It gets worse...
China manufactures and sells Stamina Booster capsules made from dead babies. (http://sanfrancisco.ibtimes.com/articles/193371/20110805/china-dead-baby-pill-stamina-booster-cannibal-placenta.htm)
"The Korean team acquired the dead baby capsules and ran DNA tests on it. The test results reportedly indicated the pills were 99.7 percent human. The test also found hair and nail remnants, and even the gender of the baby could be identified."

Ugh...... chilling.

[pondering11]

05:43 AM on 02/05/2012

* I can't imagine Americans on either side of the abortion issue, not being repulsed by these practices. Once the lure of financial gain is recognized, there are those (in our own country), who will do 'whatever it takes' to position themselves to tap these markets.

Think about all the food we eat that has been genetically engineered, that Monsanto and others have used their influence to make sure that the consumer has no idea what products are genetically altered and which are not. They have succeeded in manipulating the FDA into not being required to disclose this on any labeling.

The following link offers a very good explanation of the science behind the HEK 293 (Human Embryonic Kidney) cells referenced in the article. It is written by a physician, and I found the comments to be informative as well, raising some good questions. http://gerardnadal.com/2011/06/01/pepsi-aborted-babies-ethics-and-tasteful-research/

" ...It addresses the issue of aborted fetuses in food, which is a problem that does not exist." It may not exist today, but if what is happening in China is any indicator, it's probably not a bad idea to have some such legislation in place before the fact.

[dragon69]

09:59 PM on 05/10/2013

seeing as how the first web site is a republican anti american page and the other doesnt exist. i think you need to come up with real examples of facts instead of your republican false hype

[Dan DiLuzio]

12:57 AM on 05/14/2013

Again, wow! you are really good! Actually, that web site is there. The problem is that you may be clicking with your LEFT hand, which never gets you where you want to be, does it?

[mlhoganjr]

03:00 PM on 01/29/2012

I have been following this issue for year and think this legislator is nuts! As a civilization, we have only touched the tip of the iceberg of flavors and textures in modern cuisine. Why should we limit a million potentially delicious new pleasures because some holier-than-thou hillbilly wants to put big governments in our empty bellies?!

[IraH]

01:59 AM on 02/01/2012

I agree,
Maybe we can add ground up legislators. I hear the christian ones taste best. Also Johnathan Swift has a great recipe for Irish babies.

[binarystar]

04:33 PM on 01/28/2012

does this mean no more baby back ribs?