THE COUNDOWN HAS STARTED  

If you’ve never heard of HEK 293, the chances are that you’re not a scientist and, therefore, your lack of knowledge on the matter would be understandable. However, if you have heard of HEK 293, it was probably linked to the notion that these Human Embryonic Kidney (HEK) cells were harvested from an aborted fetus and were used to create some Covid-19 vaccines. Or maybe you heard the other rumour that these same cells can be found in beverages like Pepsi and/or all of the processed foods you can find in a regular grocery store.

Now, before you spit out your soft drink, throw up your dinner and get on Twitter to express your anger, take a breath and relax. There is some ounce of truth in what you just read, but that is not the whole story. Let’s dive into the controversial history of HEK 293 to better understand what all the fuss is about.

WHAT IN THE HELL IS HEK 293?

In a nutshell, HEK293 are immortalized human embryonic kidney cells. These cells were originally isolated in the Netherlands in the 1970s by Dutch biologist, Alex Van der Eb. However, it was a Canadian doctor by the name of Frank Graham who transformed the cell line with sheared adenovirus 5 (Ad5). The “293” in HEK 293 refers to the fact that it was Graham’s 293rd experiment.

Foundations of discovery: honoring the work of Canadian researcher in
August 05, 2020 – Ottawa, Ontario Dr. Frank Graham The foundations of science are built from one generation to the next, with the work of past generations often leading to important discoveries in the present. Dr. Frank Graham

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_L._Graham

National Research Council Canada

The cell line origin is from a single healthy, electively terminated female fetus, so that part of the story is true.

Abortion was illegal in the Netherlands until 1984, unless the pregnancy could cause harm to the mother and baby. When that particular situation presented itself, instead of discarding the fetus, they used the viable cells to and stumbled upon HEK 293. When I say “stumbled upon” that is exactly what I mean; Dr. Graham was looking for an answer to why certain adenoviruses caused cancer and why others didn’t, but instead he created HEK 293.

The reason why his discovery was so important is because testing viruses and antigens and several chemical reactions on human cells was difficult given that human cells have a limited shelf and can only be divided a set number of times. HEK 293 cells, however, do not have that problem because, in the right conditions, they can remain viable indefinitely and they can also be divided as many times as necessary. This means that scientists can use those cells for testing purposes to see how a chemical, virus, antigen or cure will behave when in contact with human cells. This was a million-dollar breakthrough for the pharmaceutical industry along with the academic research communities and the biotechnology industry given that they could test potential products on cells rather than animals or actual human beings in clinical trials.

This tenacious, fast-growing cell line and all of its derivatives have been used “in receptor signaling, cancer research, and large-scale protein production”.

So, HEK 293 is widely used in laboratories all over the world and they were even used to create various versions of the COVID-19 vaccines, a vaccine bait against rabies, Ebola and tuberculosis among many others.

THE MORAL DILEMMA

The biggest issue with the use of such a popular cell is that it originally comes from an aborted fetus, which is a big deal in the United States for conservative and religious Americans who are firmly opposed against abortion. It’s no secret that some people who are usually against abortion tend to reject science as a whole since they believer that all things under the sun are because of the deity they worship. So, when Covid hit the world like a ton of bricks, the desire to get back to normalcy hinged heavily on the creation of a vaccine. Despite the fact that each vaccine creation process always follows a rigorous testing phase, once everyone was on lockdown, that entire vaccine process was put under a microscope and the speed at which it was created alarmed a lot of people.

If you’re curious about that process, you can watch the Pandemic documentary on Netflix. It goes into detail about every aspect of the pandemic and how a pandemic can happen. It also explains the vaccine creation process and what scientists do to make these vaccines available to people. It goes further to show that the pandemic was predictable and that it may not be the only pandemic we’ll experience in our lifetime along with a lot more important information to make sense of the unprecedented event we’ve just been through. Nevertheless, even with tons of information out there, it’s not always clear who we can trust and whether or not scientists ignore regulations to play God.

In 2021, Brett Salkeld wrote an article titled Does the Origin of the Fetal Cells Used for Developing Vaccines Make Any Difference?, which was featured on the Church Life Journal affiliated with Notre-Dame University. In his article, he wonders about the moral and ethical implications of using the cells of an aborted fetus, which is fair, but he does a good job of explaining that the cells originate from an aborted or miscarried fetus (the actual provenance of the cells were never established; Dr. Graham assumed they were from an aborted fetus, but they could have been from a miscarriage) and that they are not routinely taken from recent abortions.

He also presents the topic from a philosophical standpoint: if you believe that abortions are wrong, then should everything that comes from them wrong as well? We can all agree that a person murdering another is wrong, but if the murdered person is an organ donor and those organs are used to save lives, is that wrong, too?

Makes you think, right?

Essentially, he doesn’t make an argument in either direction, but, as a person of faith, he leans towards life and morality above anything else. He doesn’t outright say that using those cells is wrong, but he compares and contrasts right and wrong, good and evil in the context of a pandemic.

THE FOOD AND DRUG ASPECT

In 2010, food and drink giant, PepsiCo, agreed to a four-year deal with Senomyx, a biotechnology company that specialize in sweeteners. When people got word that PepsiCo was involved with a biotech company, they started looking into it. In 2011, a US-based anti-abortion group called “Children of God for Life” urged people to boycott companies partnered with Senomyx, because the biotech allegedly using “aborted fetal cell lines to test their products”. When people got wind of this news, they assumed that Senomyx was preying on women in abortion clinics to use the fetal tissue.

Fact Check

Who is Senomyx?

Senomyx is a biotechnology company that is in the business of developing food additives. These additives are said to enhance the flavouring of various foods.

Does Senomyx make flavouring from human fetal cells?

Not exactly. Human cells maybe involved in the process but that does not mean flavors are “made from” them. more 

This created quite the scandal and it forced PepsiCo to sever ties with Senomyx and issue a public statement that clarified that they did not use HEK 293 cells to test their products. The press reported on this matter and see if there was any validity to the claim that PepsiCo and any other company associated with Senomyx, and they were able to clarify that HEK 293 cells are cloned cells from the ones that were taken from the embryo in 1973.

Nevertheless, the doubt was there. People don’t remember the fact-checking, but they remember the headline that disgusted them. So much so, that in 2012, Oklahoma State Senator Ralph Shortey introduced a bill that prohibited the “the manufacture or sale of food or products which use aborted human fetuses”. As you can imagine, the introduction of that bill confused and enraged people more than anything. Shortey probably thought that this bill would win him some votes and please his constituents. When pressed for details, Shortey claimed that he was unsure whether or not any company in his state used HEK 293, however, he had to clarify that aborted fetuses were not being chopped and placed in people’s burritos. Ultimately, Shortey claimed that the 1-page bill would need some work and be amended given that it had no criminal penalties. I couldn’t find any evidence of this bill being approved.

FINAL THOUGHTS – GOOD OR BAD?

Companies are using cells that have been derived from an aborted or miscarried fetus in 1973. It’s not my place to say whether that’s right or wrong.

Each person will have their own opinion about it. In any case, we can’t really ignore all the good that has come from the use of these cells. Some people, like the ones in the previously mentioned abortion group, feel like researchers and scientists should experiment on ape or pig cells instead of human ones, but then that would probably be problematic for the vegan community. However, there is no way to please everybody, so its probably better to serve the greater good in the most logical way.

It is no secret that hundreds of laboratories around the world use the HEK 293 cells that derived from a fetus that was aborted in the 1970s to develop vital medicines. It would be vastly more problematic if they were actively harvesting the cells of recently aborted embryos.

But this will always be a contentious topic in the US, where conservatives and anti-abortion activists have always thought that the practice unethical to the point where they want to repeal Roe v. Wade, which would essentially criminalize abortion in the USA.

The HEK 293 debate was reignited recently when former President Donald Trump was treated for Covid-19 using Regeneron’s antibody treatment. Regeneron used aborted fetal cells as part of its testing process.

Andrea Gambotto, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, has also used HEK 293 as part of his research for 25 years.Gambotto claimed that “It’d be a crime to ban the use of these cells. It never harmed anybody — it was a dead embryo, so the cells back then (were used), instead of being discarded, they were used for research.”

The big advantage of these HEK 293 cells is that they now represent a “gold standard” in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries. Once again, the distribution of the Covid-19 vaccine was largely possible because of HEK 293 because they are not only essential to research, they help the scientific community move forward rather than reinventing the wheel every single time.

Pharmaceutical, biotech and other companies prefer to use human cells to treat humans because they get more accurate result. “It can be a chicken egg, but human cells are preferable in human medicine.”

We’re not sure where HEK 293 research is headed. We don’t know if it will develop into some better or into something nefarious. I mean, what if someone uses those cells to create something that can harm humans? We don’t know every scientist’s intentions, so it’s hard to say. That’s why these companies who use those cells should be highly regulated and monitored to ensure that the ultimate goal remains the same: preserve and cure humanity.

We can go on endlessly about whether it’s right or wrong, but if we’re going down this road, there are many more practices that we should examine for ethical purposes like cosmetics testing on animals or clinical trials on human beings. Let’s say you don’t care about the animal issue because they’re not humans, what about the clinical trials? Even though the participants signed a waiver, the scientists are fully aware of the potential symptoms people can experience and they target people who are desperate for money to serve their purposes. Is that ethical?

In his article, Brett Salked also wondered if the cells can do more than what we’ve already used them for. He ends his article with this:

“Can we not use our collective moral energy and human and financial resources to think about how we might do something analogous with cell lines and other areas of medical research that continue to make use of aborted children? We cannot alter the past; sometimes we cannot even know it. But we can build a more just future.”

I can understand how he feels, but that is easier said than done.

To end on a somewhat positive note, I think we should focus on the positive by reading the words of the HEK 293 creator:

“I take great satisfaction from the fact that the cells I created nearly 50 years ago have played a major role in numerous advances in biomedical research and in the production of vaccines and medicines.”

Controversies aside, these results cannot be ignored.

Written by: Stuart Wiseman

We just start to taste THE human race.

Between 100 and 200 year the human race is going to eat Itself. 

Population in the world is, as of 2022, growing at a rate of around 0.84% per year (down from 1.05% in 2020, 1.08% in 2019, 1.10% in 2018, and 1.12% in 2017). The current population increase is estimated at 67 million people per year.

Annual growth rate reached its peak in the late 1960s, when it was at around 2%. The rate of increase has nearly halved since then, and will continue to decline in the coming years.

World population will therefore continue to grow in the 21st century, but at a much slower rate compared to the recent past. World population has doubled (100% increase) in 40 years from 1959 (3 billion) to 1999 (6 billion). It is now estimated that it will take another nearly 40 years to increase by another 50% to become 9 billion by 2037.

The latest world population projections indicate that world population will reach 10 billion persons in the year 2057.

Soylent Green

By 2022,^[3] the cumulative effects of overpopulation, pollution and global warming have caused severe worldwide shortages of food, water and housing. New York City has a population of 40 million, and only the elite can afford spacious apartments, clean water, and natural food. The homes of the elite are fortified, with security systems and bodyguards for their tenants. Usually, they include concubines (who are referred to as “furniture”). The poor live in squalor, haul water from communal spigots, and eat highly processed wafers: Soylent Red, Soylent Yellow, and the latest product, far more flavorful and nutritious, Soylent Green. More

Wiki

View the complete population historical table

World Population Forecast (2020-2050)

View population projections for all years (up to 2100)

World Population Milestones

 ? Billion  (2200)

 ? Billion  (2150)

 ? Billion  (2100)

10 Billion (2058)

The United Nations projects world population to reach 10 billion in the year 2058.

9 Billion (2037)

World population is expected to reach 9 billion in the year 2037.

8 Billion (2022)

World population has reached 8 billion people on November 15, 2022 according to the United Nations.

7 Billion (2010)

According to the latest revision by the United Nations (released in 2022), world population reached 7 Billion in late 2010 (this was previously estimated as occurring on October 31, 2011). The US Census Bureau made a lower estimate, for which the 7 billion mark was only reached on March 12, 2012.

6 Billion (1998)

According to the latest revision by the United Nations (released in 2022), the 6 billion figure was reached towards the end of 1998 (this was previously estimated as occurring on October 12, 1999, celebrated as the Day of 6 Billion). According to the U.S. Census Bureau instead, the six billion milestone was reached on July 22, 1999, at about 3:49 AM GMT. Yet, according to the U.S. Census, the date and time of when 6 billion was reached will probably change because the already uncertain estimates are constantly being updated.

More 

BY: CocaineCompany