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  #1   ^
Old Fri, May-17-19, 07:53
Demi's Avatar
Demi Demi is offline
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Default Parents who raise children as vegans should be prosecuted, say Belgian doctors

Quote:
From The Telegraph
London, UK
16 May, 2019

Parents who raise children as vegans should be prosecuted, say Belgian doctors

Doctors in Belgium have called for parents who raise their children as vegans to face prosecution after a number of deaths in schools, nurseries and hospitals.

It is estimated that 3 percent of Belgian children are forced to follow the strict diet, which rules out any animal products, including dairy and eggs.

The Royal Academy of Medicine of Belgium published a legal opinion on Thursday, which could influence future court judgments and is the first time a health authority has taken a position on veganism in the country.

The opinion said it was unethical to subject children to the diet because it didn’t include animal proteins and vital amino acids which can help growth and prevent health problems.

The vegan diet could only be made safe for growing children if complemented with medical supervision, regular blood tests and vitamin supplements, which most parents were not qualified to provide.

“We must explain to the parents before compelling them,” said Professor Georges Casimir, who led the commission that wrote the report, “but we can no longer tolerate this endangerment.”

"This restrictive regime requires ongoing monitoring of children to avoid deficiencies and often irreversible growth delays," the legal opinion said, "It is unsuitable for unborn children, children, teenagers and pregnant and lactating women."

"It is not medically recommended and even forbidden to subject a child, especially during periods of rapid growth, to a potentially destabilising diet, requiring frequent supplementation and control,” it said.

“This concept of nutrition is similar to a form of treatment that it is not ethical to impose on children.”

The opinion was published after a request by Bernard Devos, a regional government official responsible for children’s rights and protection in Brussels and the French-speaking region of Wallonia.

Mr Devos asked for the opinion after children suffered health complications, including a number of deaths, in schools, nurseries and hospitals, Belgium’s Le Soir newspaper reported.

It would make it easier for him to enforce the separation of a child from parents who insisted the youngster followed the restrictive diet.

Professor Casimir warned that such a strict regime would now legally qualify as “non-assistance to a person in danger”, a crime which carries a sentence of up to two years and fines in Belgium.

A person cannot be convicted of the 1961 offence if he is unaware the person is in danger but the legal opinion now made it common knowledge that a vegan diet can kill, he told Le Soir.

The pediatrician said, “When we are children, the body manufactures brain cells. This implies higher requirements for protein and essential fatty acids. The body does not produce them, it must be brought in via animal proteins.

“We are talking here about stunted growth and psychomotor delays, undernutrition, significant anemia. Some developments must be done at a specific time in life and if they are not done, it is irreversible.”

Dawn Carr, of PETA, said, "What a load of ignorant codswallop! NHS nutritionists confirm that while a meat- and dairy-based diet is what strikes people down in adulthood – as it can lead to hardened arteries that cause stroke, brain aneurysms, and heart attacks – a well-planned vegan diet is perfect for babies and children.

"Kids, including my own, thrive on a balanced vegan diet, but as with any dietary regime, it's the parent's responsibility to ensure their child is getting all the necessary nutrients. And yes, that's easier to achieve on a vibrant vegan diet rich in whole grains, vegetables, and pulses."

Heather Russell, dietitian at The Vegan Society, said: “Nutritional planning is important for everyone, not just vegans. It’s possible to provide all the nutrients needed for growth and development without animal products.”

“Both the British Dietetic Association and the American Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recognise that well-planned vegan diets can support healthy living in people of all ages, including infants, children, teenagers and pregnant and breastfeeding women,” she added.

In 2017, in Beveren, Belgium a couple were sentenced to a suspended six month sentence after their seven-month-old baby died of malnutrition and dehydration.

The infant’s death was blamed by doctors on the parents’ choice to only feed it vegetable milk.

A survey published last year found that 44 percent of Belgians had cut their meat consumption, despite the country’s fondness for Flemish beef stew and frites cooked in beef, horse or goose fat. 16 percent of Belgians said they eat mostly vegetarian.

The trend mirrors that seen across Europe, as concerns over climate change and animal welfare grow.



https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/20...ed-say-belgian/
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  #2   ^
Old Fri, May-17-19, 09:13
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Bob-a-rama Bob-a-rama is offline
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I think the parents are being misguided. I'm torn between the child welfare and freedoms. My heart pulls both ways.

I see other parents feeding their kids pop tarts, sports drinks, and sugary cereal, which is IMHO as bad as veganism. We can't legislate diet, that will end up with the food companies bribing the governments (oh, that's already happening but at a lesser extent). We can't cure stupidity either.

Reading near that the end of that article that people are becoming vegans due to climate change disturbs me. That's nothing but pure propaganda which hurts more people than those Belgian children. And it is an example of government bribery by corporate farming. The American Heart Association gets millions of dollars per year from Big Ag, and Big Ag feeds them the biased tests that tell AHA that fat is bad for everybody.

There are zillions of acres of grasslands. These grasslands are perfect for ruminant animals, require almost no care other than what mother nature gives them.

To grow crops on those grasslands would take enormous amounts of water, herbicide, pesticide, and polluting machinery and be hundreds of times worse for the environment than cow farts.

The solution is to graze livestock on grasslands, but don't send them to the feed lot.

Our end should not be eating less meat, but by buying nothing but 100% grass-fed beef.

Bob
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  #3   ^
Old Fri, May-17-19, 09:14
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Ms Arielle Ms Arielle is offline
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Unfortunately I do know a child that was raised this way and the mental retardation by age 2 was very obvious.

Fortunately, I knew about this BEFORE having my own children, and never limited their access to real meats.
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  #4   ^
Old Fri, May-17-19, 09:18
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Ms Arielle Ms Arielle is offline
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Quote:
I think the parents are being misguided. I'm torn between the child welfare and freedoms. My heart pulls both ways.


I understand totally. Me? I prefer to see parents have correct information..... then all is well. As you said, the parents are being misguided. Too much bad information still propagated... Im praying this will change. Until then......I try not to judge the common person.... but feel the government has muddied the waters and is slow to correct their actions as the truth is revealed.
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  #5   ^
Old Fri, May-17-19, 09:31
jschwab jschwab is offline
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I don't think people have miseducation. This is eating for ideological reasons. It doesn't help to say that babies need animal protein because they will never believe that. I have friends who are vegan but they raise their kids vegetarian when they are young. Or feed them meat even. Good for the Belgian doctors - doctors here are not so brave.
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  #6   ^
Old Fri, May-17-19, 10:11
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GRB5111 GRB5111 is offline
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Quote:
Dawn Carr, of PETA, said, "What a load of ignorant codswallop! NHS nutritionists confirm that while a meat- and dairy-based diet is what strikes people down in adulthood – as it can lead to hardened arteries that cause stroke, brain aneurysms, and heart attacks – a well-planned vegan diet is perfect for babies and children.

Well, Ms. Carr, if you fed babies and children codswallop along with healthy fresh vegetables, they might be better off.

More evidence of the polarized camps arguing about nutrition resulting in further delay of ever being able to reach agreement on nutrition while harming people who have not or are not capable of carrying out their own research.

My previous statement of being able to find a healthy WOE that is sustainable without having to maintain it with supplements that cover nutrition gaps is the approach I prefer. It does take personal research and fine-tuning with N=1 discovery. I don't see agreement occurring anytime soon, as the camps have dug in deeply.
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  #7   ^
Old Sat, May-18-19, 06:07
RonnieScot RonnieScot is offline
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I also don’t think the parents are criminals any more than those who feed processed SAD. Could they not offer the blood tests to vegan kids to keep an eye on their health instead? And define veganism: if they give the kid honey in a cup of water or an egg once a year does that exclude them from this crime?! Once a month?
I put so much effort into my kids eating because I see it as key, but maybe other parents would be shocked I’ve not bothered to enrol them in second language classes or whatever? ...got to be free to raise our own children as we see fit. With a few check ups from the state and a safety net where needed.
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  #8   ^
Old Sat, May-18-19, 08:03
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Bob-a-rama Bob-a-rama is offline
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I have a few vegan friends, one who cooks meat for her husband and another two who do it as a couple. I never asked them if it is for ideological or health reasons. I am on a self-imposed restricted diet. I joke with them that we are both simply picky eaters, and that's that. No preaching, just friends doing friend things.

I guess it's a price we pay for having so much information at our fingertips, that we have so much disinformation there as well.

When corporate agriculture creates a group with a name like, "Scientific study for better nutrition", infiltrates the government agencies established to protect us from those groups, and then tells us things like 'Eating fat is slow suicide" millions will believe it, and go on eating sugary, starchy, 'fortified' frankenfood produced by the very company that created the bogus tests and gave zillions of dollars in tacit bribes to political candidates and political regulating agencies.

And here we are, trying to sift through the information to determine what is true and what is propaganda. It takes a lot of work, and there is still a lot of trust and guesswork to this. Is my high fat diet going to come back and bite me one day? Judging from my results now, I doubt it.

But most people don't take the time to know what they are eating and what it does to their body. They might know their sport star's statistical record from the time he/she was in high school, or all the queen or pain's lovers on a soap opera for the past 20 years, or how many fights the royals are having, and so on, but don't know what a carb really is or that eating fat doesn't just add that fat to your body fat like some kind of magical transfer.

So many don't understand that we have the teeth of an omnivore, the digestive enzymes of an omnivore, the nutritional needs of an omnivore, and the digestive tract of an omnivore.

To digest the nutrients out of plant matter, cows and other ruminants have multiple stomachs where the bacteria can ferment the food, horses have mile long digestive tracts, and rabbits, deer and others eat their own feces to run the food through a second time.

Yet some people think they can become vegans for health reasons.

I can't take care of them, I feel sorry for their children (along with many others) but I don't think legislation is the answer.

Impartial, non-biased education is an answer, but as we should all know, that isn't going to happen. The Food And Drug Administration - FDA - was established to protect us from the food and drug industry, but it has been successfully converted into an agency that protects the food and drug industry at the expense of the people it was established to protect in the first place.

Do your homework and take care of yourself.

Bob
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  #9   ^
Old Sat, May-18-19, 10:55
Barbara20 Barbara20 is offline
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This is horrifying. Do vegans watch their babies get thinner and paler and more lethargic as time goes by and not wonder why? I've seen a few babies over the years fed what their vegan parents ate and they looked awful - thin and pale instead of rosy and fat, their little faces pinched and their eyes dull and vacant.

This is abuse because the baby has no choice, no option but to eat what it is fed. The parents are in full control.

I tell you if I saw my own babies looking sad and sick I'd want to do whatever it takes to help them look like the Gerber Baby - that's what babies are supposed to look like - when they are well fed. And where are the doctors?

Of course in news stories the media have to go to "the other side" and ask them what they think. And vegans are articulate while sidestepping the uncontrovertibly fact that babies need certain things before the age of two or they are doomed to ill health for life, or have their lives cut short - doctors!! don't give in to these ideologues!!

Dear God have mercy on these poor babes.
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  #10   ^
Old Thu, Jun-27-19, 05:30
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WereBear WereBear is offline
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When it is a Belief System people can become fanatically devoted and ignore all Reality Feedback.
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