There Are No Aborted Fetal Cells In PepsiCo Drinks
The Claim
PepsiCo drinks contain aborted fetal cells.
News posted on
Emerging story
Several posts circulating on social media claim that PepsiCo beverages contain aborted fetal cells. The posts circulated across different social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, over the course of June and July, with one receiving thousands of likes.
Misbar’s Analysis
There is no evidence that PepsiCo includes aborted fetal cells in its beverages. In response to a series of now-deleted tweets, PepsiCo in 2019 wrote that the company “absolutely does not conduct or fund research that utilizes any human tissue or cell lines derived from embryos or fetuses.”
Social media users claimed PepsiCo had partnered with Senomyx, a biotech company that developed food additives. PepsiCo in the 2019 tweet referenced Senomyx and said the beverage giant no longer has a partnership with the biotech company.
The author of the Instagram post liked by thousands of people — and shared by numerous other social media users — apologized for including “some inaccurate information” about PepsiCo but did not elaborate or specify beyond that.
PepsiCo and Senomyx did form a partnership in 2010. An anti-abortion group then called for a boycott of all Senomyx business partners, claiming the biotech company used HEK-293 cells, or human embryonic kidney cells to test their products. Semonyx used a cell line from an aborted fetus years ago as part of their testing, but they do not include aborted fetal cells as ingredients in their products.
After calls for the boycott, top leadership at PepsiCo said in a 2012 letter that Senomyx does not use HEK-293 “or any other tissues or cell lines derived from human embryos or fetuses for research performed on behalf of PepsiCo.”
