AUSTIN, Texas – Texas Republicans want to make food containing ingredients from aborted human fetuses “clearly and clearly labeled” – even if the product does not.
At proposed law, authored by the state Sen. Bob Hall, said that food and drugs should be labeled if they contain or are produced with human fetal tissue or if it is a research product that uses such tissue. The bill defines human fetal tissue as “tissue, cells, or organs obtained from an unborn child.”
“Unfortunately, many Texans do not know how to use products that contain them parts of a human fetus or developed using parts of a human fetus,” read a statement from Hall’s office. “While some may not be bothered, there are many Texans with religious or moral beliefs who will oppose the consumption or use of these products.”
Photo by Tamir Kalifa/Getty Images
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) does not allow the sale of foods containing human tissue.
“Under no circumstances will the FDA consider human fetal tissue safe or legal for human or animal consumption,” an agency spokesperson wrote in an email to HuffPost.
Controversial Cell
The bill, which Hall filed on behalf of his constituents, marks one of the latest eruptions of an ongoing controversy over the scientific use of cell lines, which can be obtained from aborted or aborted fetuses. Scientists routinely use these cells for research and experiments, but they do not use them as food additives.
A single group of cells from a human embryo can be cultured many times for many years. Some of the cell lines most commonly used by researchers today were created decades ago.
Controversy over cell lines goes back to at least the 1970s when the war over abortion led to both state laws and federal regulations curtailing the use of aborted fetuses to cultivate fetal tissue and cell lines.
Anti-abortion groups – especially Children of God For Life – often call for boycotts of companies like Neucutis and Senomyx for using HEK 293 cells in research and development.
The HEK 293 cell line was originally derived from kidney cells obtained from abortions or miscarriages in the 1970s, according to Reuters. The cells have been used hundreds of thousands of times over the last half century.
Neucutis admits to using cell lines to develop skin care products. In addition, Senomyx used cells for conducts millions of tests on the flavor enhancers used in its products without using human taste testers, according to CBS News.
The Impact Of Sweeps In The Medical Industry
The Texas bill would have little impact on the food industry because cell lines are not used as food ingredients, but can have a huge impact on the medical field. The law requires the labeling of any medical product “derived from research using human fetal tissue.” This broad term can be applied to a wide variety of vaccines and drugs, from polio to HIV treatment.
“Human fetal tissue is used quite a lot in research,” one geneticist, who declined to be identified so as not to associate his institution with the political debate over abortion, told HuffPost. “There is no way to cleanly draw a line between experiments that directly lead to products and the lines of research that can happen.”
Catholic leaders and anti-abortion groups have opposed its use HEK 293 cells and other human-derived cell lines in COVID-19 vaccine research and testing. However, the The Vatican finally identified him “morally acceptable.” The most common COVID-19 vaccines provided by Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson are all tested using fetal cell lines before being used in humans.
The FDA has tried to allay concerns about using embryonic cell lines in COVID-19 vaccine research. A spokesperson noted, “the fetal tissue used to create cell culture lines was obtained decades ago, and no new fetal tissue is needed to generate cell lines to make vaccines.”
But Hall insists that many constituents use the cells as “a matter of conscience” and should be clearly disclosed.
“An informed consumer can make whatever choice they decide to purchase a product as long as they have all the information to make that choice,” Hall wrote in an email to HuffPost.
Oklahoma Republicans filed a similar bill, which would have banned foods made from aborted fetuses, in 2012, but the legislature failed to pass it.
“I don’t know if it’s going to happen in Oklahoma, maybe, maybe not,” Oklahoma state Sen. Ralph Shortey, the bill’s author, said. said at the time. “What I’m saying is that if it happens, then we’re not going to allow it to happen here.”
Food containing human fetal tissue — which, again, does not exist — could meet the definition of cannibalism, which no federal law criminalizes and most states do not regulate.