"Vegans" Sentenced to Prison for Starving Child to Death
An Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

FROM

Robert Cohen, NotMilk.com

September 2011

The parents were not vegan. The parents were not responsible. The actions of the parents resulted in the death of a child. This should not have been vegan diets on trial. Sadly, that is the conclusion many non-vegans are reaching based upon biased reporting.

One can survive everything nowadays, except death, and live down anything, except a good reputation. - Oscar Wilde

In May of 2007, a New York Times editorial condemned all vegan diets based upon the death of a child in Georgia.

This week, the child's parents were sentenced to life in prison: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504083_162-20105030-504083.html

The facts of that case did not support the conclusions of the Times editorial writer. The child was not fed breast milk or soy-based formula. The infant was not even fed milk-based formula. Instead, the parents fed their newborn infant with apple juice and commercial soymilk.

In noting that the child was born in a bathtub and had not been to a hospital during a very short life in which his basic nutritional needs had been neglected, despite the fact that the protruding bones could be easily seen and counted underneath the child's skin by the medical examiner, the prosecutor said, "These were not vegan parents. These were child killers." The couple was appropriately found guilty of malice murder, felony murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children.

In 1994, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Vol. 59) reported: "Vegan diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy and lactation."

In 1989, the Journal Pediatrics (vol. 84) determined that a vegan diet was appropriate for the mother of an unborn child. Pediatrics reported:

Vegan diets can meet the nutrient and energy needs of pregnant women. Birth weights of infants born to well nourished vegetarian women have been shown to be similar to birth-weight norms and to birth weights of infants of non vegetarians.

Five years later, Dr. Benjamin Spock became involved in the growing controversy regarding vegan diets for infants. At that same time, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition (Vol. 59) reported: "Vegan diets are appropriate for all stages of the life cycle, including during pregnancy and lactation."

The parents were not vegan. The parents were not responsible. The actions of the parents resulted in the death of a child. This should not have been vegan diets on trial. Sadly, that is the conclusion many non-vegans are reaching based upon biased reporting.

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