National Pro-Life T-Shirt Week Starts for Youth, Students -- 12-18 April 2011 -  http://www.npltw.com/

Oregon Effort to Attack Pregnancy Centers Stopped, Win For Life

Missouri Legislators Honor Work of Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers

Second Prempro HRT Study Shows Link to Cancer Risks

Brain's Sensitivity to Alcohol is Linked to a Gene

Diabetes Cases May Double by 2050

The March For Life in Italy Begins, & Grows in Romania

Pro-Life March in Spain Draws over 150,000 Participants

Choose Life License Plate Efforts Abound Nationwide

‘The Greatest Profession on Earth’:  6 Moms Spreading the Word About Motherhood

Vandals Cover Up Pro-Life Billboards Featuring Obama

More Brilliant Work by Live Action: Planned Parenthood's Missing Mammograms

"Boycott Pepsico, Kraft, Campbell Soup, Solae, Nestlé Products": Using Aborted Human Fetal Cell Line for Flavor Enhancer Testing

Mum’s Grief: Medics Left 22 Week Pre-Term Baby to Die...

Oregon Effort to Attack Pregnancy Centers Stopped, Pro-Life Win
The latest attempt to attack pregnancy centers that provide women with real help and abortion alternatives has failed in Oregon after a significant pro-life pushback.

Care Net, a national network of 1,130 pregnancy centers, celebrated the defeat of an Oregon bill that was designed to direct pregnant women away from pregnancy centers and toward abortion businesses. The bill, SB 769, was prompted by abortion advocacy groups that have launched a nationwide campaign against pregnancy centers that take away their business by providing tangible pregnancy support.

The bill was defeated Wednesday when a Senate Committee passed over the bill after hearing strong testimony from pregnancy center directors, former clients, and other advocates. Care Net President Melinda Delahoyde praised the Oregon legislators for refusing to lend support to the bill in comments to LifeNews.

“Care Net commends Oregon legislators for recognizing the truth about SB 769 — that it was a biased attack by one industry on its competition,” Delahoyde said. “Women in Oregon deserve to make their own choice of where they go for help with an unexpected pregnancy. This bill would have eliminated that choice and had the government pointing them solely to abortion providers.”

“Women whose lives were touched by the compassionate, caring work of pregnancy centers are speaking out. It’s difficult for anyone to argue with their stories and the powerful truth revealed about the sanctity of human life,” Delahoyde added. “In addition, Oregon pregnancy centers have a strong record of service to the state. In 2010, they received zero federal or state funding and provided more than $6 million dollars worth of free services to more than 45,000 women.”

“Care Net would like to thank everyone who came to the support of pregnancy centers in opposition to this bill — you made a difference,” she concluded.

The defeat follows on the heels of two lawsuits filed against New York City for passing a measure that attacks pregnancy centers. The city council approved the bill on a 39-9-1 vote and the ordinance that would place stringent limits on the advertising pregnancy centers use and require them to post signs designed to dissuade women from seeking their abortion alternatives services.

Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed suit against the city over the law that the pro-life legal group says “threatens non-medical, pro-life pregnancy care centers with steep fines and potential closure if they don’t post signs and publish in their ads that the city health department encourages women to go elsewhere.” Also, officials with the American Center for Law and Justice filed a federal lawsuit challenging the ordinance. The ACLJ represents numerous crisis pregnancy centers and contends the law violates the U.S. Constitution as well as the New York State Constitution.

“Since this ordinance was first proposed, we have put the city council and the mayor on notice that it was unconstitutional and that we were prepared to challenge it immediately if passed.  We’re now moving forward with that challenge,” CeCe Heil, ACLJ Senior Counsel, told LifeNews.

“This measure is troubling because it violates crisis pregnancy centers’ First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, specifically protected by the constitution.  We are committed to protecting the rights of our clients and are urging the federal court to halt implementation of this ordinance and declare it unconstitutional.  Similar ordinances have already been struck down in federal court and we have no doubt that this ordinance will be rejected as well,” the attorney added.

The ACLJ represents EMC Frontline Pregnancy Centers and AAA Pregnancy Problems Center which operate a total of 13 crisis pregnancy centers across New York City. The pro-life legal group filed the lawsuit on their behalf in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
[8 April 11, Ertelt | Salem, OR | LifeNews.com  http://www.lifenews.com/2011/04/08/oregon-effort-to-attack-pregnancy-centers-stopped-pro-life-win/




Missouri Legislators Honor Work of Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers

Put the Missouri legislature on the list of states where lawmakers have introduced measures honoring the work of pregnancy centers which, unlike Planned Parenthood, provide help for pregnant women.

Care Net and Americans United for Life, a leading pregnancy center network and a national pro-life group, commended the Missouri state House today for praising the work of pregnancy care centers.

Rep. Thomas Long introduced HB 1826 with more than 100 co-sponsors called a “Resolution Honoring Pregnancy Care Centers,” thanking the non-profit organizations throughout the state for their tremendous service to women, children, and the community.

The resolution is based on a model drafted by Americans United for Life and Missouri is the seventh state this year to introduce such a resolution, which has been passed in four states – Arizona, Alabama, South Dakota, and West Virginia.

“Care Net praises pregnancy centers for getting noticed – there’s definitely a ‘buzz’ in the air about your good work,” said Care Net President Melinda Delahoyde. “In this era of state budget shortfalls, it’s organizations like pregnancy centers that help to hold our communities together, providing free services to help empower women and strengthen families.”

Delahoyde told LifeNews she appreciated the sponsors and AUL for their leadership on behalf of pregnancy centers, saying, “Care Net is grateful to those who continue to come alongside our movement to champion the quiet, life-saving work of pregnancy centers.”

Charmaine Yoest, president and CEO of Americans United for Life, added: “The praise that pregnancy centers are receiving for their life-affirming impact on the women, families, and communities they serve is well-deserved and long-overdue. We look forward to working with more states to adopt this important resolution and to further support the critical work of pregnancy centers.”

Pregnancy centers provide practical help and emotional support to empower those facing unplanned pregnancies to make an informed and life-affirming pregnancy decision. Care Net is a national organization supporting the work of 1,130 pregnancy centers in North America. On the other hand, Planned Parenthood’s own figures show a very small percentage of women who are pregnancy actually receive prenatal care as opposed to abortions.
[Ertelt | Jefferson City, MO | LifeNews.com | 4/8/11,  http://www.lifenews.com/2011/04/08/missouri-legislators-honor-work-of-pro-life-pregnancy-centers/]



Second Prempro HRT Study Shows Link to Cancer Risks
[NOTE: Keeping in mind that HRT uses the same artificial hormones that are used in chemical birth control methods.]

Prempro is a "drug that relieves hot flashes but raises the risk of the two biggest cancer killers in women" according to Rowan Chlebowski, Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute. Prempro is a combination of the hormones estrogen and progestin used by 15% to 20% of post-menopausal women in the USA.

Chlebowski et al reported in JAMA (Oct 2010) that, compared with a placebo, Prempro increased women's risk of breast cancer, that their cancers were more likely to have spread to their lymph nodes, and that they were more likely to die of breast cancer.

These findings come from a government-sponsored study known as the Women's Health Initiative. One part of the study randomly assigned 16,000 women, aged 50-79, to either Prempro or a placebo. That study was halted in July 2002 because long-term Prempro use was found to raise the risk of breast cancer, heart attack and stroke. Participants had been taking their pills for an average of 5.5 years.

These findings join a growing list of studies questioning the safety of hormone therapy. Last year, the same researchers reported in The Lancet that, compared with a placebo, Prempro raises the number of lung cancer deaths, although it does not increase the number of lung cancer cases.
In February 2009, Chlebowski et al reported that Prempro users had a marked decrease in breast cancer risk within two years of quitting treatment.

In this second Prempro study just released, researchers followed about 13,000 women for an average of 8 years after they had stopped taking their pills. So far, about 1.3 extra breast cancer deaths per 10,000 women per year have occurred in those on Prempro.
In a statement, Prempro manufacturer Pfizer noted: "The increased risk of breast cancer compared to placebo has been included in Prempro's label since its introduction in 1995. This analysis does not alter that risk..."

Because the extra breast cancer deaths in Prempro users were relatively few, Peter Bach of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer in New York writes in an editorial in JAMA, doctors "might conclude that a brief period of hormone therapy for relief of menopausal symptoms is safe."
But, Bach continues, no one has proven that. He calls for additional studies to determine whether lower doses or shorter duration could relieve symptoms without increasing cancer risk.
[21 Oct 2010, Thursday, USA TODAY, McLean, VA, Rita Rubin, p A3]


Brain's Sensitivity to Alcohol is Linked to a Gene

Apparently, CYP2E1 affects how sensitive the brain is to alcohol, perhaps because, unlike the enzyme in the liver, it generates free radicals, tiny molecules that can damage cells.
[20 Oct 2010, USA TODAY, McLean, VA, Rita Rubin]


Diabetes Cases May Double by 2050
And perhaps triple, with 1 in 3 having the disease. Obesity plays an increasing role in this situation.
According to the report, one in 10 U.S. adults have diabetes now, and the prevalence is expected to rise sharply over the next 40 years, primarily type 2 diabetes, according to a report published in Population Health Metrics.
Diabetes is the Number One reason for adult blindness, kidney failure, and limb amputation, and is closely linked to heart attacks and strokes, and to a form of dementia.
The CDC estimates the current cost of diabetes at $174 Billion annually -- $116 Billion of which is in direct medical costs.
[22 Oct 2010, USA TODAY, McLean, VA, Mary Brophy Marcus]

The March For Life in Italy Begins, & Grows in Romania
Italy will have its first major March for Life on 28 May 2011.

Organizers are hoping for a large turn-out.

Romania Pro-Life March for Life Coming Up in Three Cities
The provita movement in Romania is thriving in order to follow closely its more experienced colleagues from Western Europe; this year, for the first time, the “March for Life” will turn into a large scale event, scheduled for Saturday, 26th of March. The marches will take place simultaneously in the capital city Bucharest and two other big Romanian cities, Timisoara and Satu Mare. [LifeNews.com Pro-Life News Report 3/22/11 #5104]

 Pro-Life March in Spain Draws over 150,000 Participants
An estimated 150,000-plus pro-lifers gathered to celebrate life and protest a new abortion law in Madrid on Sunday.  Hundreds of others marched in over 80 Spanish cities, including Barcelona, Oviedo, Zaragoza and Las Palmas, and internationally on March 25 as part of recognition for the International Day of the Unborn Child.

From little children to teens to grandparents, families walked in the streets in support of a Spanish “manifesto” that calls abortion “a terrible hypocrisy against women” and a “terrible injustice to the children.”  Participants were asked to sign the petition demanding that Spanish laws protect life “at all times and circumstances” and seek to offer true aid to women with unplanned pregnancies.

“Today we are together for a just cause: the defense of human life,” said Dr. Gador Joya, spokesperson for Derecho a Vivre (Right to Live).  “We are here to return to the dignity of the individual at the heart of democracy. We are here, once again, because we do not accept that the life of the most vulnerable is the subject of political experiments.”

Last year in Spain a law went into effect that allows abortion on demand during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy and up until 22 weeks gestation in cases of rape, fetal abnormality, and when the mother’s health is at risk.  The law also permits abortion at anytime until birth when the unborn child has a serious or incurable illness, as determined by a medical committee.

“Laws are adopted,” continued Dr. Joya, “and the unjust laws will be repealed. The Spanish Constitution states that everyone has the right to life … We will never accept abortion as an unavoidable fact in a civilized society.”

Pro-life marchers protested the law, chanting slogans such as “Yes to life”, “No to abortion”, and “Let me live.”  After speeches, a banner was raised more than 60 meters in the air by 120 colored balloons.  The banner read: “Everyone has the right to life.”

Ignacio Arsuaga, president of HazteOir, an organization that seeks political change through the voice of the people, applauded the participation of the many young people in the march.  “It is wonderful to see how our young people realize and commit to life,” he said.

In a testimony, Dr. Blanca Lopez Ibor, a medical oncologist and pediatrician, explained the beginnings of human life and the physical, psychological and spiritual consequences of abortion on mothers.  She challenged other physicians to speak up for the unborn.

“We have the power of our vote,” said Dr. Joya, ”the scientific, legal and moral right on our side.”

For photographs of the march -- http://www.flickr.com/photos/hazteoir/sets/72157626356047384/show/

There will be a nationwide March for Life in Italy on 28 May 2011.

[Mar 28, 2011, Rebecca Millette, MADRID, Spain, March 28, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com, http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/pro-life-march-in-spain-draws-over-150000-participants?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=94edf1f3e6-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines03_28_2011&utm_medium=email




National Pro-Life T-Shirt Week Starts for Youth, Students

College and high school students and young people of all ages will be wearing pro-life T-shirts to school next week as a part of National Pro-Life T-shirt Week, sponsored by the pro-life group American Life League.

Participating youth can have fun, change some hearts, and maybe win some great prizes just for submitting photos of themselves wearing pro-life T-shirts around town, at school or around their homes with friends and family. Tom Mon, vice president at the pro-life organization explained that it wants pro-life youth to do more than wear a shirt — he hopes they will take their T-shirts to different places to ensure people get the pro-life message.

“You earn points for photos of completing any one of hundreds of listed tasks while wearing any pro-life t-shirt.  The more tasks completed, the higher the points,” he said. “This contest is the most fun I get to have all year.”

The contestant who scores the most points by sending in photos of different completed tasks wins a new iPad 2.  Second and third place winners will receive iPod Touches while even fourth and fifth place finishers will win iPod Shuffles. The 300 pro-life t-shirt wearing contest tasks range from the mundane (brushing your teeth) to the quite creative (“Cooking the Books” at a library) to the somewhat weird in public (like standing on a chair at a mall holding an umbrella in the air).

This year’s official ALL pro-life t-shirt shows a sonogram emblazoned simply “I am a Person.” It is getting a great response with thousands purchased but any pro-life t-shirt, even homemade, will qualify as long as it has the phrase on the shirt to let people know about the humanity of unborn children,

Seven years ago, the organizers of the Rock for Life youth pro-life group came up with the idea for a national pro-life t-shirt day. Since the idea has become so popular with the youth and young adults — who polls often show are more pro-life than their parents — organizers expanded the day to a full week.

The event takes place from April 12 through April 18 and pro-life students are encouraged to wear their favorite pro-life t-shirts every day that week or as many days as possible.

Related Links

    * National Pro-life T-shirt Week -- http://www.npltw.com/

Some students have encountered problems from school officials in wearing the shirts and they have been forced to remove them or sent home from school.

However, pro-life legal groups like the Alliance Defense Fund and Thomas More Society have provided free legal support for students and their families. In most cases, they’ve been successful in getting school officials to back down or restore the First Amendment rights of pro-life students wearing t-shirts against abortion.
[Ertelt | Washington, DC | LifeNews.com | 4/6/11,   http://www.lifenews.com/2011/04/06/national-pro-life-t-shirt-week-starts-for-youth-students/




Choose Life License Plate Efforts Abound Nationwide
As of this writing, seven states have Choose Life license plate bills in their legislatures and three others are trying to pre-sell their requisite number of plates to begin the process: AK, FL, IL, ME, MN, NC, ND, NE, RI, TX, UT

Nationally, Plate Sales Continue To Climb -- almost $14,000,000.00 has so far been donated in the following states:
Alabama [42,979 tags     07/01/03    9/30/2010   $1,772,881], AZ, AR, CT, DE, FL [388,221 tags 8/11/2000 2/28/2011 $7,764,416], GA, IN, KY, LA, MD, MA, MS [84,069 7/1/2002 3/15/2011 $2,017,656], MO, MT, NE, NJ, ND, OH, OK, PA, SC, SD, TN, VA
Total     636,099     $13,660,202

For more info, go to www.choose-life.org and click on the state in which you are interested.
Help is needed in several states: Washington, Oregon, Idaho, California, Wyoming, New Mexico, Kansas, Iowa, Michigan, Vermont, Colorado & New Hampshire.

Visit www.choose-life.org and click on your state.





‘The Greatest Profession on Earth’:  6 Moms Spreading the Word About Motherhood

Not only do these six moms have 44 children between them, they are beautiful, vibrant, hardworking women on a mission to spread the beauty of what they deem “the greatest profession on earth”: motherhood.

Brought together by dynamic pro-life leader and mother of nine, Jenn Giroux, these six women began traveling the United States in February 2010, calling their presentation “Speaking of Motherhood.” They witness to women on college campuses, at women’s conferences, and even in high schools, presenting a “counter-cultural” view of motherhood.

Founder and former executive director of Human Life International America and founder of the Association of Large Families (AFLA), registered nurse Jenn Giroux holds an array of titles, but looks on her motherhood as the crowning achievement.  Known for her speaking and writing on the spiritual and physical harms of contraception, Giroux’s plan for “Speaking of Motherhood” developed out of her public speaking.

“There is a huge need out there for us to show the positive side of motherhood and to once again elevate motherhood to the respect that it deserves,” Giroux said in a telephone interview with LifeSiteNews.com while traveling with her five companions to a speaking engagement. ”It is the greatest profession on earth for women and it has really been completely denigrated by the feminist movement.”

“Speaking of Motherhood” had its inaugural presentation at Notre Dame last February.  Since then, the six moms have done sessions in Missouri, Nebraska, and Indiana and have upcoming bookings in Ohio, Kansas, and Washington.  “We try to go wherever we’re invited,” said Giroux, who recently started marketing the talk.

“Speaking of Motherhood”

“One of the funniest things,” Giroux recounts, are the huge 2’ x 3’ blowups of their family photos that the six moms put on tripods during their talk. “Here we are carrying the huge things in,” she laughs, “but it is amazing the response that we get from it.”

“We want them to see the visual, beautiful pictures of our children,” said Giroux, who said she often jokingly shares with the audience the number of natural and c-section births the six moms boast.

The pro-life leader begins the presentation speaking of the spiritual and physical harms of contraception.  “Most girls have not heard any of this,” said Giroux, speaking of the proven high increased risks of breast cancer from contraceptives. “It is important for women and young girls to hear this.”

“Our generation is completely filled with grief and post-contraceptive regret,” she said. “We were blown away at our first talk with how many women could relate with what we were saying … we want to witness to the younger generation so they don’t repeat our mistakes.”

While Giroux begins the talks speaking about contraception, the majority of the presentation consists in personal testimonials from the moms, none of whom are professional speakers.   

One mom recounts how she was told on the delivery table with her second child that neither she nor the baby would likely survive.  Both the mom and her baby lived.  Later, she refused to have a tubectomy (tubes “tied”) on the physician’s advice and went on to have seven more children.

In another mom’s testimony, she tells of her choice to have her “tubes tied” at age 26.  She then “walks through her story of regret” that ended in a reversal of the operation and the birth of her son after three daughters.

The presentation seeks to show the beautiful and the positive aspects of motherhood lost in society, said Giroux.  “We really need to show them the beauty of children, which is the actual positive message of showing them the beautiful fruits of accepting God’s gift of children.”

Another mom tells the heartbreaking story of her first born, a still-born baby.  An accountant who planned and calculated through her pregnancy, she tells the humility she learned on the delivery table surrendering everything to God.  She recounts how she had to learn trust in God and later went on to have four children.

Yet another testimony of trust comes from the mom who witnesses to those with financial excuses for not having children.  “I’m here to talk to anybody who says they can’t afford children,” she says.  While she and her husband “can’t afford” a large family, she tells the audience how through hard work and trust in God, they have had eleven children.

“Normal” Moms

“We try to give them a very realistic picture of what having a large family is,” Giroux told LSN of the moms who represent a variety of lifestyles, from working to stay-at-home moms.

Where the media is constantly bombarding women with the idea that they should not have lots of kids because it will ruin their careers, change the look of their bodies, or alter their carefree lifestyle, Giroux and her team are there to stand up as “counter-cultural.”

“We’re trying to let them know that the moms they put on T.V. are completely abnormal,” said Giroux.  “The big secret of having children has been lost” through the continual lie of the secular public.

She laughingly recounts the stories of college-age girls who look at her in awe upon learning she has nine children and respond, “oh my gosh, but you’re so normal.”

“We’re giving the message back to people that ‘you know what, girls, you can have it all, you can take care of yourself, have kids, work-out, be an active mom, work outside the home and have a strong marriage and have a large family,’” said Giroux...

Giroux says that time and again many people express to her regret at having only one child or the grief they have at being an only child...  

Yet, Giroux maintains the “Speaking of Motherhood” campaign isn’t to force bigger families on everyone, even though the moms do promote large families.

“Our message isn’t just ‘have a lot of children’ because everybody isn’t intended to have 10 kids,” Giroux told LSN. “Our message is ‘trust God’ and accept the beautiful gift of children.”

“All of us say, marriage and motherhood is stressful and has its challenging moments, but the blessings so far outweigh the difficulties. We had very scary moments where we had to trust God in our motherhood and as a result we were blessed with the children that we have.”
[Apr 04, 2011, Rebecca Millette, CINCINNATI, Ohio, LifeSiteNews.com,  http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/the-greatest-profession-on-earth-6-moms-spreading-the-word-about-motherhood?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=c04f1bfaa5-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines04_04_2011&utm_medium=email

Vandals Cover Up Pro-Life Billboards Featuring Obama

Vandals have covered over billboards recently erected in Chicago that feature a pro-life message alongside a portrait of President Obama.

The billboards, directing viewers to the website ThatsAbortion.com, display a profile image of Obama with the words, “Every 21 minutes, our next possible leader is aborted.” The advertisement campaign was unveiled March 29 and is sponsored by the pro-life organization Life Always. The website draws attention to abortion statistics in the U.S., highlighting in particular the high abortion rate among African-Americans.

On Sunday, the Chicago Tribune reported that some of the “controversial billboard ads” had been covered up by sheets with slogans painted on them, such as, “In 21 minutes this sign should be gone” and “Abort racism.”

The Tribune released a statement by the anonymous party claiming responsibility for the counter-campaign. The statement said the ads were disrespectful, “negative” and “condemning.”

Pro-life campaigns highlighting the disproportionate rate of abortions among the African-American community have proven an emotional flash point and a target for heightened criticism.

Another billboard in New York City, also erected by Life Always, was taken down within two days last February because its message questioning the black abortion rate was panned as racist.

The ad featured a photo of a young black girl with the slogan, “The most dangerous place for an African-American is in the womb.”

In New York City the abortion rate among blacks is over 60%.

[Apr 04, 2011, Kathleen Gilbert, CHICAGO, LifeSiteNews.com  http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/vandals-cover-up-pro-life-billboards-featuring-obama?utm_source=LifeSiteNews.com+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=c04f1bfaa5-LifeSiteNews_com_US_Headlines04_04_2011&utm_medium=email



More Brilliant Work by Live Action: Planned Parenthood's Missing Mammograms
The PP president went on TV and declared Rep. Mike Pence's amendment to defund Planned Parenthood would cost women basic health access -- she specifically mentioned "mammograms."

So Live Action called different Planned Parenthood clinics across the country asking for mammograms. Twenty-seven clinics later, not one was able to provide a mammogram and had to direct the caller somewhere else.

Our favorite part: one employee in Memphis suggested (not sarcastically) she could try Christ Community Service. This is what those in favor of defunding Planned Parenthood have pointed out all along -- there are several places available where women can get access to health care without going to an organization that takes taxpayer money and funds abortion with it.

It's a testament to Live Action that they can always manage to remain one step ahead of Planned Parenthood and can reinvent their investigations to keep the organization on its heels. Planned Parenthood, after having been exposed countless times through Live Action videos, finally alerted the authorities during the last sting. But Live Action refuses to be intimidated.

You can also learn more about Planned Parenthood's ties to the eugenics movement and its use of taxpayer funds in this in-depth Townhall Magazine piece.
[email, 30 march 11]




"Boycott Pepsico, Kraft, Campbell Soup, Solae, Nestlé Products": Using Aborted Human Fetal Cell Line for Flavor Enhancer Testing....

A biotech company is using cell lines from aborted babies in food enhancement testing. 

From LifeSiteNews:

Pepsico, Kraft Foods, Solae and Nestlé are among the corporations partnered with a biotech company found using aborted fetal cell lines to test food flavor enhancers, according to a pro-life watchdog group.

The internationally recognized biotech company, Senomyx, boasts innovation and success in “flavour programs” designed to reduce MSG, sugar and salt in food and beverage products. Senomyx notes their collaborators provide them research and development funding plus royalties on sales of products using their flavor ingredients.

Pro-life watchdog group, CGL, has called upon the public to target the major corporations in a boycott, unless the company ceases to use aborted fetal cell lines in their product testing.

“Using isolated human taste receptors,” the Senomyx website claims, “we created proprietary taste receptor-based assay systems that provide a biochemical or electronic readout when a flavor ingredient interacts with the receptor.”

“What they do not tell the public is that they are using HEK 293 – human embryonic kidney cells taken from an electively aborted baby to produce those receptors,” stated Debi Vinnedge, Executive Director for CGL, the watch dog group that has been monitoring the use of aborted fetal material in medical products and cosmetics for years.

“They could have easily chosen COS (monkey) cells, Chinese Hamster Ovary cells, insect cells or other morally obtained human cells expressing the G protein for taste receptors,” Vinnedge added.

Responses from major corporations to CGL’s letter campaign succeeded in warning the pro-life watchdog that these companies would need significant public pressure to admit involvement in and convince them of the need to change Senomyx’s unethical testing methods.

After three letters, Nestlé finally admitted the truth about their relationship with Senomyx, noting the cell line was “well established in scientific research”.

Pepsico wrote: “We hope you are reassured to learn that our collaboration with Senomyx is strictly limited to creating lower-calorie, great-tasting beverages for consumers. This will help us achieve our commitment to reduce added sugar per serving by 25% in key brands in key markets over the next decade and ultimately help people live healthier lives.”

“If enough people voice their outrage and intent to boycott these consumer products, it can be highly effective in convincing Senomyx to change their methods”, Vinnedge noted. “Otherwise, we will be buying Coca-Cola, Lipton soups and Hershey products!”

For more reading material on this issue, please see this article:
http://www.cogforlife.org/senomyxalert.htm

To contact the companies:

Kent Snyder, CEO
Senomyx
4767 Nexus Centre Drive
San Diego, California 92121
email

Paul Bulcke, CEO
Nestlé USA
800 North Brand Boulevard
Glendale, CA 91203

email

Jamie Caulfield, Sr.VP
PepsiCo, Inc.
700 Anderson Hill Road
Purchase, NY 10577
email

Irene Rosenfeld, CEO
Kraft Foods/Cadbury Chocolate
Three Lakes Drive
Northfield, IL 60093
email

Mr. Torkel Rhenman Chief Executive Officer
Solae
4300 Duncan Avenue
St. Louis, Missouri 63110
email

Mum’s Grief: Medics Left 22 Week Pre-Term Baby to Die
Baby Tom fought for life for 46 minutes before dying in his mother's arms.

Mother's fury over 'no revival' policy after seeing 22-week-old son die despite his 46min battle to live (dailymail.co.uk, 16 March 2011)
Fri, 18 Mar 2011

A 22-week-old pre-term baby fought for life for 46 minutes but died in his mother’s arms after hospital staff refused to treat him.

Tracy Godwin gave birth to her son Tom on 6 March last year when she was in the 22nd week of her pregnancy.

But the 31-year-old was left aghast when medics at Southend University NHS Hospital refused to help her son. She had not been told that the hospital does not intervene with babies born under 23 weeks.

Describing the experience she said: “They put him in my arms and he cried and was wriggling around. I could feel him breathing and see his eyelashes and fingers and toes.

“But I kept thinking, ‘Where’s the incubator?’ We were begging the midwives to do something to help him but no one was saying anything. He was not stillborn, he was trying to live.

“If they had tried for an hour and said they couldn’t do anything more for him or he was severely brain damaged, that would have been different, but he wasn’t given a chance.”

Miss Godwin, who was administered the painkiller pethedine, added: “Because of the drug I wasn’t myself and I keep thinking if I hadn’t taken it and withstood the pain, maybe I would have had more fight in me to demand a doctor”.

“We never saw one. It was a disgrace. I just kept crying and crying.

“My partner was shouting at the midwives to help us but they just left us with Tom. We felt so alone, no one was helping us.

“I don’t know when, but I was suddenly aware Tom had gone.”

During a meeting with the hospital after Tom’s death, the grieving parents were told that resuscitating their baby was against hospital policy.

Jacqueline Trotterdale, the hospital’s chief executive, said that an investigation was underway and an apology would be made.

She said: “We follow national guidance not to resuscitate babies born at under 23 weeks and most trusts follow this.

“We need to talk to the mothers and families of these babies to tell them what will happen. This has not happened in a systematic way and this is a big gap we are reviewing.”

Although the NHS offers guidance on when to resuscitate premature babies, individual health trusts can decide whether they wish to follow it.

Earlier this month a leading NHS consultant said that babies born up to 23 weeks should not be resuscitated.

Dr Daphne Austin, Consultant in Public Health Medicine for West Midlands Specialised Commissioning team, believes it is too expensive to do so.

In January, a baby born at 23 weeks and believed to have been the smallest baby born in Britain last year, celebrated her first birthday.

Weighing just 13 ounces and smaller than a child’s doll, baby Willow Ludden-Brooks fought to overcome her slim chance of survival.

But at a happy 10lb 8oz she celebrated her first birthday with her overjoyed family.  [dailymail.co.uk, 16 March 2011]