death by veganism

[mimitabby]

Death by Veganism

full story here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/21/opinion/21planck.html?em&ex=1179979200&en=7823d2bbcad13583&ei=5087%0A

By NINA PLANCK
Published: May 21, 2007

WHEN Crown Shakur died of starvation, he was 6 weeks old and weighed 3.5 pounds. His vegan parents, who fed him mainly soy milk and apple juice, were convicted in Atlanta recently of murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty.


This particular calamity — at least the third such conviction of vegan parents in four years — may be largely due to ignorance. But it should prompt frank discussion about nutrition.

I was once a vegan. But well before I became pregnant, I concluded that a vegan pregnancy was irresponsible. You cannot create and nourish a robust baby merely on foods from plants.

[Veronica]

What did cave women eat when they were pregnant? What did they feed their babies? Whatever they did worked.

V.

[KnottedYet]

Breast milk isn't vegan enough?

Even vegan babies should have BREAST MILK!!! What were these parents thinking?

and it says right on the soy milk box "Not to be used as infant formula" precisely because of stupidity like this.

(I was pretty much vegetarian when I got preggers. I started CRAVING meat, I wanted DEAD RED MEAT for every meal. Figured my body knew what it was doing, so I ate steaks and pork chops to my heart's content.)

[Eden]

Breast milk isn't vegan enough?

Even vegan babies should have BREAST MILK!!! What were these parents thinking?

and it says right on the soy milk box "Not to be used as infant formula" precisely because of stupidity like this.

That was my first thought too! - but the article says that even breast milk from vegan moms is missing some crucial nutrients.....

[skibum]

It's interesting to see how these things get reported by the press. I followed the trial in our local paper. Certainly the appropriateness of a vegan diet for an infant was questioned during the trial but the key points in the conviction were that the child was underfed and the parents never sought medical attention.


Here's a snip from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

"The infant was born in the bathtub of a Buckhead apartment but never taken to a doctor while alive. He was dead when his parents took him to Piedmont Hospital, across the street from their apartment, April 25, 2004. At six weeks old he weighed just 3 1/2 pounds and was so emaciated, doctors could count his bones through his skin.

Fulton prosecutor Chuck Boring said the verdict isn't a condemnation of veganism, a strict form of vegetarianism that doesn't allow the consumption or use of animal products. Instead, jurors believed prosecutors' assertions that the couple intentionally neglected and underfed the child and then tried to use the lifestyle as a shield."

Link to full article. Registration may be required to read it.
http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/met...3metvegan.html

[mimitabby]

That is an individual case. a major point of that article is that this baby was not the first one to die recently from parents who are clueless about nutrition and wanting to be vegan.

[snapdragen]

It's more like death by stupidity of the parents. I'm really beginning to belive you should pass a test before being allowed to have a child.

[mimitabby]

I've thought that for a long time Snap!

[singletrackmind]

How does that work anyway? Breast milk is an animal product but it's being used for its intended purpose. Curiosity leads me to ask if this is an ok in the Vegan diet?

A sad, sad, sick story of neglect.

[mimitabby]

Okay by the standard of being a vegan or nutritionally okay?

[Jolt]

Wow--how can parents be so stupid? That is really awful. I liked the author's point about indigenous diets--seems like they should be a good indication of what works well, and none of them are vegan (some are ovolactovegetarian). I noticed that she has written a book--Real Food: What to Eat and Why. I think I'll read it once the person who has it returns it to the local library--I'm intrigued. I've always been a bit leery of the processed foods that are advertised as "healthy" because of ingredients like soy protein etc.--the cultures that eat a lot of soy products (just to use soy as an example) eat them in very different forms than this, and it may well be that those forms are healthy while the processed versions that seem to be proliferating lately aren't. Seems like eating whole/minimally processed foods, as opposed to all the refined and "fake" ingredients is a sensible idea (don't even get me started on trans fats!).

[Trek420]

I've thought that for a long time Snap!

That's ok for us to say, I believe my parents would have passed with flying colors.

But since none of us came with directions or a "read me first" file, I remember many dog eared books, child rearing manuals, Dr. Spock on the shelves.

Don't these parents know or read anything?

(I was pretty much vegetarian when I got preggers. I started CRAVING meat, I wanted DEAD RED MEAT for every meal. Figured my body knew what it was doing, so I ate steaks and pork chops to my heart's content.)

Yeah and hence sKnott is tall enough to be riding your bike.

[lizbids]

Sounds like the courts thought the parents deliberately neglected their child, using veganism and a fear of hospital germs to keep the child sick. Don't you hate not knowing exactly what happened????

[mimitabby]

in this case, i feel like i know too much already.
more details would be painful.

[smilingcat]

UGGG!!! I really can't type what is on my mind with these people.

Some people with their rigid views on diet just drives me bonkers... If you are going to hold onto veganism, learn about nutrition carefully. I'm not about to pass judgement on vegan diet nor to atkins diet.

I'm going to stop here... Just so infuriating

Smilingcat

BTW some vegans also had kittens on strict vegan diet and as a result all the kittens went blind. Its not the same as human baby... but still I get angry at this too. I'll post something more cheerful tomorrow on noncycling related section.