Italy threatens jail time for parents raising vegan children

[starchild5]

http://www.naturalnews.com/054975_vegan ... Italy.html

Italy threatens jail time for parents raising vegan children; but toxic vaccines and cancer-causing junk food are still legal

(NaturalNews) Italian parents who force a vegan or vegetarian diet on to their children under 16 could face up to four years in jail if the Italian parliament passes the new controversial bill. The proposal comes from Elvira Savino, from the conservative Forza Italia party, who claims that these restrictive diets jeopardize the health of young children and leave them malnourished.

According to Savino and some health experts, a vegetarian or vegan diet may lack sufficient amounts of zinc, iron, vitamin D, vitamin B12, omega-3, and protein which are all essential nutrients for growth and overall health.

She told Reuters that she doesn't have a problem with vegans or veganism, as long as it is a free choice that is being made by adults. However, she did go on to say, "I just find it absurd that parents are allowed to impose their will on children in an almost fanatical, religious way, often without proper scientific knowledge or medical advice."

Vegetarian and vegan diets suitable for children or not?

According to the American Dietetic Association, a well-planned vegetarian or vegan diet can be healthy, provide adequate nutrient intake, and can offer many benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases, for adults and children alike.

When it comes to children, however, they said extra attention is needed to make sure they get all the nutrients they need for their mental and physical development.

Unfortunately, not all parents that make the decision to feed their little one a strict plant-based diet have done their homework. In the past eighteen months, several Italian children have had to undergo hospitalizations, due to the effects of nutritionally insufficient, poorly planned vegan diets.

In July, a little boy raised on a strict vegan diet was removed from the custody of his parents after doctors concluded that the one-year-old had the body weight of the three-month-old baby. According to the Independent, the boy showed severe calcium deficiencies and needed emergency surgery because of a heart condition. Although the vegan diet did not cause the heart disease, doctors believe it made things worse.

In 2015, a divorced Italian mother of a 12-year-old boy lost her guardianship after the father filed a complaint that the boy's diet was stunting his growth and harming his health.

Criminal offense

In the light of these events, Savino is now pushing hard to penalize "reckless and dangerous eating behavior imposed by parents to the detriment of minors," according to the BBC.

She told Reuters that she feels responsible for all children that may end up in the hospital because of this behavior. She said that it is her task to protect children and pediatricians should be obliged to report vegan parents to authorities just as they would report physical abuse on a child.

If her bill is successful, imposing a vegan or vegetarian diet on a child under 16 would become a criminal offense in Italy. Offenders will face a jail sentence of a year for raising a child on such a diet, up to four years if the child suffers illness or permanent injury, and up to six or seven years if the child dies as a result.

As reported by the BBC, opinions about the validity of the bill are divided. According to some experts, punitive measures are not the answer. After all, aren't parents of junk-food-fed obese or vaccinated children also jeopardizing the health of their child?

Should they then be imprisoned too or would it be more efficient to provide better public health education on how to improve nutrition and raise a healthy vegan kid?

[livefreeordie]

Sounds a bit extreme, but im not totally sold on the benefits of going totally vegan either, i think it varies for each body, but theoretically it should be possible to go vegan if you meet all the requirements of protein and other elements too, but that seems challenging at times

[gnosis]

A healthy vegan diet with adequate veggies and fruits is fine for kids if the right supplements are used. B12 and omega 3s should be supplemented. (Breast milk is the only suitable food for very young children. A vegan diet is only good AFTER weaning.)

Actually the vegan kid will be much healthier than the grease and junk eating obese tots.

[MarcosZeitola]

I have known a few children back in high school who were "raised vegan". All of them unhealthy, undersized, deathly pale and fragile looking. It was awful. They were smaller then their peers, thinner, weaker and seemed more easily tired. I see no use in raising a child in such a way. It is definitely child abuse in my opinion. I know of two brothers, neither of them are vegans but one of them had an allergy for dairy products as a child and grew up on soy products exclusively, the other didn't and had genuine milk. The one who grew up drinking milk ended up to be 6'6" and looking like a Viking, the other is only six feet tall and at least 20 pounds lighter. That's a pretty significant difference especially if we take into account the smaller brother is the older one.

Of course much of this evidence is merely anecdotal. But the fact remains that the tallest and strongest of people have historically been those who consumed the most animal products, as opposed to their poorer peers who could not afford them. Therefore, I ensure to make my children eat as much as fish, meat and animal products as possible. Back where we live in the province, chemicals and hormones in meat is a non-issue as most of the meat is from local farms and butchered practically around the corner... you go into town and pick out the butcher shop that has a pig's head in front of it, so you know the meat will be the most fresh.

Meat does not instantly mean McDonalds, chicken nuggets, deep-fried garbage. Meat can be good lean meat, combined with plenty of fat fresh fish which is extremely healthy as well. Combined with enough fruits and vegetables, this is still the superior diet IMO.

[Yohan]

..... the vegan kid will be much healthier than the grease and junk eating obese tots.

Not so sure if this is true, both is unhealthy. The best is to be somewhere in the middle. It's about the same with weight. Underweight is at least as unhealthy as overweight.

[Adama]

I have known a few children back in high school who were "raised vegan". All of them unhealthy, undersized, deathly pale and fragile looking. It was awful. They were smaller then their peers, thinner, weaker and seemed more easily tired. I see no use in raising a child in such a way. It is definitely child abuse in my opinion. I know of two brothers, neither of them are vegans but one of them had an allergy for dairy products as a child and grew up on soy products exclusively, the other didn't and had genuine milk. The one who grew up drinking milk ended up to be 6'6" and looking like a Viking, the other is only six feet tall and at least 20 pounds lighter. That's a pretty significant difference especially if we take into account the smaller brother is the older one.

Of course much of this evidence is merely anecdotal. But the fact remains that the tallest and strongest of people have historically been those who consumed the most animal products, as opposed to their poorer peers who could not afford them. Therefore, I ensure to make my children eat as much as fish, meat and animal products as possible. Back where we live in the province, chemicals and hormones in meat is a non-issue as most of the meat is from local farms and butchered practically around the corner... you go into town and pick out the butcher shop that has a pig's head in front of it, so you know the meat will be the most fresh.

Meat does not instantly mean McDonalds, chicken nuggets, deep-fried garbage. Meat can be good lean meat, combined with plenty of fat fresh fish which is extremely healthy as well. Combined with enough fruits and vegetables, this is still the superior diet IMO.

I agree. Do these people think vegan diets are natural and normal? Did our ancestors carry around B12 tablets? If not, then it is an illegitimate way to eat, period. Vegetarianism by itself is bad (but it must keep demons in check, which is why all those Easterners do it, lol).

[S_Parc]

I have known a few children back in high school who were "raised vegan". All of them unhealthy, undersized, deathly pale and fragile looking. It was awful. They were smaller then their peers, thinner, weaker and seemed more easily tired. I see no use in raising a child in such a way. It is definitely child abuse in my opinion. I know of two brothers, neither of them are vegans but one of them had an allergy for dairy products as a child and grew up on soy products exclusively, the other didn't and had genuine milk. The one who grew up drinking milk ended up to be 6'6" and looking like a Viking, the other is only six feet tall and at least 20 pounds lighter. That's a pretty significant difference especially if we take into account the smaller brother is the older one.

Of course much of this evidence is merely anecdotal. But the fact remains that the tallest and strongest of people have historically been those who consumed the most animal products, as opposed to their poorer peers who could not afford them. Therefore, I ensure to make my children eat as much as fish, meat and animal products as possible. Back where we live in the province, chemicals and hormones in meat is a non-issue as most of the meat is from local farms and butchered practically around the corner... you go into town and pick out the butcher shop that has a pig's head in front of it, so you know the meat will be the most fresh.

Meat does not instantly mean McDonalds, chicken nuggets, deep-fried garbage. Meat can be good lean meat, combined with plenty of fat fresh fish which is extremely healthy as well. Combined with enough fruits and vegetables, this is still the superior diet IMO.

I agree. Do these people think vegan diets are natural and normal? Did our ancestors carry around B12 tablets? If not, then it is an illegitimate way to eat, period. Vegetarianism by itself is bad (but it must keep demons in check, which is why all those Easterners do it, lol).

The biggest problem with vegan foods is that everyone goes bonkers over soy protein. And that's not good because soy's got a high distribution of estrogen metabolites and is better to be taken in moderation than as the primary source of one's protein.

So if you want to try vegan, find another source of protein than soy based products. All and all, I think it's a good idea to eat only vegetables, one week every quarter. It really helps cleanse the body.

[gnosis]

The biggest problem with vegan foods is that everyone goes bonkers over soy protein. And that's not good because soy's got a high distribution of estrogen metabolites and is better to be taken in moderation than as the primary source of one's protein.

So if you want to try vegan, find another source of protein than soy based products. All and all, I think it's a good idea to eat only vegetables, one week every quarter. It really helps cleanse the body.

Good point. I don't know why everybody assumes a vegan diet has to contain lots of soy protein.