Summary Article

Fetal-Free

New Product Label Needed

Introduction

Consumers like to know their products. Either they buy trusted brand-names, or they read labels to insure that what they are buying meets their standards.  Ingredient lists inform if an undesired chemical or product is used. Statements or symbols assure a conscientious consumer that no animal testing was done, or that the product is free of peanuts, or that something is certified organic or kosher. But nowhere is there a label to warn of the newest, most disturbing ingredient being used in the manufacture of goods ranging from coffee, to face cream to baby shampoo. This ingredient is human fetal cells.

When the stem cell debate originally raged, it was focused on the use of fetal stem cells for research purposes. Now, several years later, stem cells are no longer reserved for research purposes. Fetal tissues and their derivatives (cell lines grown from an original batch of fetal cells or products that utilized stem cells in their development but which do not themselves contain stem cells) are increasingly appearing in common, everyday products, and their use is being funded and fueled largely by an uninformed public.