The Informed Consent Action Network (ICAN) obtained documents disclosing that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cultured 22 distinct human cell lines, including cells apparently extracted from parts of aborted fetuses and babies younger than four weeks.
ICAN’s lawyers sent the CDC a letter (pdf) on June 25, 2021, asking for documents that contained the word HEK.
HEK cells are immortalized cell lines likely obtained from a miscarried or aborted fetus.
“Immortalized human cell lines live outside of the body in nutrient media that, under ideal conditions, will replicate forever without death,” Dr. James Thorp, a maternal-fetal medicine expert told The Epoch Times.
“These various cell lines are used for numerous experimental purposes including the development of vaccine technology and genetic modification. The origin of these numerous human immortal cell lines is impossible to determine for certain but likely derived from abortions, miscarriages, fetal deaths, or other human sources derived from a variety of different organ systems,” Thorp said.
Recently, the CDC had to release 281 pages of related documents (pdf).
An email from 2015 with the subject “Research using Fetal Tissue” says in the unredacted part that “The list below contains all the cell lines Jason’s team has cultured,” which include 22 human cell lines.
It includes the human brain endothelium, liver, intestines, foreskin, lung, and other body parts.
Another email with the subject “Cell Lines from the last two years” shows 47 cell lines of which some are also human.
“Below are the cell lines we have produced in the last two years,” reads the email of the CDC researcher.
The main controversy with stem cell research arises in the harvesting of stem cells from human embryos that are usually conceived in a lab.
In 2009, former President Barack Obama lifted a ban that lasted for about 8 years on federal funding for most stem cell research.
