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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, n...

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 fries cooked in beef, horse or goose fat. 16 percent of Belgians said they eat mostly vegetarian.

4 comments

  1. Some people adopt fads like they are a new religion. And once you fall into the trap of religion, your own mind is gone forever.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Crack down on parents with fat children as well.

    (Oops, that would mean a crackdown on 70% of the USA!)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yeah, try to explain to people, its not the meat in the burger that kills you, its the bread.


    Meat, cant be substituted, and the vegans are more like religious fanatics than using comon sense, the reduction of milk fat (I like yougurts, but the one we have right now, is shit, low fat, low taste and low quality and on top of it, not good at all for your health) and not bothering to do anything with milk sugar, and we end up with drinking/eating something equall to an cola, witch by the way is not that bad, juice have the same level, drink water, etc.
    White bread is just some few % above more ugh..... safe uh... bread, and the color is also just an scam, etc.
    If you want to go down in weight, you need in basic do two things, move your ass, and dump bread and of course any kind of soda/cola etc, and I never eat, diet shit, in any form, eat lees but eat the real thing, and I love Turkish/Greek chees as fetas in all its forms and shapes, goat chees in general, etc, and to be honest, by major enemy, is cakes, it pains to cut it down to just on special ocasions, but then again, quality contra quanity, the quality in the store cakes are veeery close the an f.... scam and an insult, cheep wheet shit and crackers gone down the drain, years ago.
    If really want cakes or cockies, you/we have to make em our self, much better, and everybody have an good oven this days and incl bread.



    Thats it, children needs basic food, and meat/fat/ and fish, underestemated, any kind of sea food, by the way.
    I would never tuch Bugs, if others eat it, I dont care, you will never ever make me eat Bugs, etc, jesus no way.


    peace

    ReplyDelete
  4. Out of curiosity, how long can a woman lactate?


    Though these Belgian kids simply can't get vitamin B-12, complex proteins, or amino-acids from plant-based foods, maybe they can make up for that by "sucking on Mommy."


    :)

    ReplyDelete