PepsiCo has come under fire from pro-life advocates because it has been contracting with a research firm that uses fetal cells from babies victimized by abortions to test and produce artificial flavor enhancers.
Now, the Obama administration is set to face more criticism because an agency has declared that Pepsis use of the company and its controversial flavor testing process constitutes ordinary business.
In a decision delivered February 28, the Security and Exchange Commission ruled that PepsiCos use of aborted fetal remains in their research and development agreement with Senomyx to produce flavor enhancers falls under ordinary business operations.
Debi Vinnedge, Executive Director of Children of God for Life, the organization that exposed the PepsiCo- Senomyx collaboration last year, informed LifeNews today that a letter signed by Attorney Brian Pitko of the SEC Office of Chief Counsel was sent in response to a 36-page document submitted by PepsiCo attorneys in January 2012. In that filing, PepsiCo pleaded with the SEC to reject a Shareholders Resolution filed in October 2011 that the company adopt a corporate policy that recognizes human rights and employs ethical standards which do not involve using the remains of aborted human beings in both private and collaborative research and development agreements.
PepsiCo lead attorney George A. Schieren noted that the resolution should be excluded because it deals with matters related to the companys ordinary business operations and that certain tasks are so fundamental to run a company on a day-to-day basis that they could not be subject to stockholder oversight.
Vinnedge said she is appalled by the apathy and insensitivity of both PepsiCo executives and the Obama administration.
Were not talking about what kind of pencils PepsiCo wants to use we are talking about exploiting the remains of an aborted child for profit, she said. Using human embryonic kidney (HEK-293) to produce flavor enhancers for their beverages is a far cry from routine operations.
Obama Agency: Pepsi Using Aborted Fetal Cells is Ordinary Business | LifeNews.com