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'Fetus Food' Bill Sets Off Media Firestorm

empty bowl

Are you concerned about the use of human fetuses in your food? Oklahoma state senator Ralph Shortey wants to make sure that can't become a reality.

Shortey introduced a bill that would ban the use of aborted human fetuses in food and promptly triggered an Internet storm.

The bill reads:

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.


Blown away by the attention, Shortey was quick to state he had never heard of a single instance of fetuses being found in food.

The bill, he explained, was spurred after he read about a boycott the anti-abortion group, Children of God for Life, started against Pepsi Co. in 2010.

The group charged Pepsi Co. was partnering with a biotech firm that experimented with human fetuses for artificial flavorings. Both companies denied the allegations.

The USDA agrees, stating they have never had reports of fetuses used in food.

Read More:



  • Oklahoma lawmaker wants to ban fetuses in food (Los Angeles Times)
  • No fetuses in food: Oklahoma lawmaker explains intent behind bill (Los Angeles Times)
  • Oklahoma Legislator Doesn't Really Think We're Eating Fetuses (The Atlantic)


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