Biotech Firm to Provide Alternatives to Vaccines Using Tissue From Abortions 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 29, 2008
Seattle, WA (LifeNews.com) — A biotech firm has announced it will offer ethical alternatives to some of the vaccines that currently rely on the use of fetal tissue from abortions. The Seattle-based AVM Biotechnology says it will produce ethical alternatives in the fields of biotechnology, pharmaceuticals, and vaccine development.
The news gives hope to pro-life people who have been reluctant to use some vaccines because their development came as a result of the destruction of unborn children.
“We will be working to bring commercially available, morally acceptable, vaccines to the US market and to use existing technology to produce new morally certified vaccines," says Dr. Theresa Deisher, the research and development director for AVM.
"Revenues from the vaccine business will also further the research, development and commercialization of morally certified therapeutics in other areas of medicine as well," she added.
The news was a pleasant surprise for Children of God for Life, a pro-life organization that has spent more than a decade highlighting the connection between some vaccines and abortion.
“There are no words sufficient to express our deepest gratitude to Dr. Deisher and AVM Biotech," COG executive director Debi Vinnedge told LifeNews.com.
To help ensure that the biotech firm’s vaccines do not have any abortion connection, the firm has placed Vinnedge on its Advisory Board for vaccine development.
While most vaccines and medicines are produced in an ethical manner, several are manufactured using cell lines derived from tissue obtained from babies who are victims of abortion. In some cases, Vinnedge notes, no ethical versions are available.
“For too long parents who want to protect their children without compromising their deeply held pro-life and religious beliefs have been coerced into an unnecessary and unjust moral dilemma,” she explained. “No one should be forced to choose between these two fundamental human rights.”
Vinnedge told LifeNews.com she hopes the news will be a further catalyst in getting members of Congress to support the Fair Labeling and Informed Consent act.
That’s a bill that would require full disclosure from the pharmaceutical industry whenever aborted fetal or embryonic cell lines are used in medical products.
“Every consumer, whether pro-life in philosophy or not, has the right to know if human fetal cell contaminants are present in the drugs they receive," Dr. Deisher noted.
“Consumers should be informed and empowered to make the best health care choices for themselves and their families. Surely, if we have the right to know what is in our fast food, we should also have the right to know what is in our medicine," the researcher added.
