Posted on 05/12/2005 9:34:27 AM PDT by HungarianGypsy
A Scottsdale couple have been charged with child abuse after their three children, who police said were put on a type of vegan diet, were found malnourished and severely underweight.
The couple’s 3-year-old daughter weighed 12 pounds when she was taken to Phoenix Children’s Hospital last month after apparently having a seizure, said Scottsdale detective Sam Bailey. All three children remained hospitalized Wednesday, Bailey said.
The parents, Blair Parker, 34, and Kimu Parker, 35, were arrested April 28, and on Wednesday were each being held on $90,000 bail in a Maricopa County jail.
The Parkers were charged by a direct complaint from the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office, according to court records. Bill FitzGerald, spokesman for the office, said the case is expected to go before a grand jury for possible indictment.
Police said that after Blair Parker took his youngest girl to the hospital, a social worker contacted police.
At the couple’s home in the 300 block of North Miller Road, police found the two other emaciated children. The 9-year-old boy weighed 29 pounds and stood at 3 feet 4 inches tall, while the 11-year-old girl was 3 feet 9 inches tall and weighed 36.5 pounds, a police report said.
Police said the Parkers’ house was immaculate, "organized" and "free of clutter." The refrigerator was stocked with fresh vegetables, roots and mixed grains.
Both older children, who were home-schooled, were well-spoken and welleducated for their ages, though officers thought the children looked young for their ages, the report said.
Dr. Janice Piatt, a pediatrician at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, later told police, "I have never seen such stunting before except maybe in Africa. It was beyond severe malnutrition."
Yet Bailey said the couple "weren’t consciously starving their kids."
He noted that the children’s mother also was thin — she weighed 115 pounds and was 5 foot 6 inches tall.
"She was extremely skinny but did not appear malnourished," the report said.
Blair Parker, who is 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 200 pounds, told detectives his family was on vegan diets and don’t consume animal or dairy products.
Kimu Parker told police the family mainly eats rice, beans and vegetables. She said the two older children were small for their ages because they didn’t have "animal steroids and other products that the average person consumes."
None of the children have been vaccinated, and the family believes in holistic medicine and were in contact with a doctor in Wisconsin who would explain to them how to treat their children after diagnosing them, the report said.
The couple, who have read extensively on health issues, said the girls’ bodies don’t absorb protein and that the holistic doctor diagnosed the problem, according to the report. They supplemented the 3-year-old’s diet with a product that was supposed to help absorb the protein.
In general, vegan diets should be safe for children as long as they get the proper nutrients, two Valley nutrition specialists said.
"With regard to whether it’s appropriate for a child — there are healthy children who eat vegan all the time," said Terry Hughes of Gentle Strength Cooperative in Tempe.
Karen S. Moses, a registered dietitian at Arizona State University, said it’s possible to raise children on vegan diets successfully.
"People can be very conscientious about how they feed their children and can do a vegan diet without compromising the child’s health. It takes a lot of work. You really have to be conscientious about protein and calcium. You have to be really thinking about nutrients in a way that other people may not."
Contact Irene Hsiao by email, or phone (480)-970-2324
Yes-I am in Ohio and that's the one thing I am still growing. From late May thru early October they are on my deck. During winter they live under a 1000 watt metal halide light (like the ones potheads use to grow marijuana...I had to explain to my nosy neigbor that I did NOT grow pot...). I put it on a timer for 12 hours a day. It runs the electric bill up about $19 but for me it's worth it. Also grow limes and lemons this way as well as a few tropical plants.
Problem?
Strict vegans won't eay honey or wear a wool sweater, either, so as not to enslave the bees and sheep.
There are fruitarians, also, who won't kill a vegetable but will only eat fruits and nuts after they've matured and reproduced. I once saw a bumper sticker that said "Mowing is Murder". Apparently you have to let the grass spread it's seed before it's moral to cut it. I'd be laughing but I can't stop thinking of those poor kids.
Actually, she's 15-20 lbs underweight for her height, if she is a slight framed woman. Recommended weights for 5' 6":
(small frame, medium frame, large frame)
120-133 130-144 140-159
Dammit...enough with the steak pictures already! You guys are killing me!
>>Yeah, but TWELVE POUNDS AT AGE THREE????? C'mon...<<
I agree. I was just parsing the article.
I dated a girl in college like that. She grew up on a farm and didn't eat much meat. We would go for a steak or chicken once in a while though.
People in biblical times didn't live very long and Nugent doesn't look good up close.
I did not reach the top of the food chain just to graze like a prey species
That's a great line. I'm using that one on a vagan buddy of mine. I have a standing offer that I'll buy the first steak when he realizes the error of his ways.
Just remember, "There's plenty of room for all God's creatures...right next to the mashed potatoes."
?
Those kids will make a choice one day. If they live long enough that is.
Their choice, when they learn how they've been abused and scarred for life, will be to loathe the disgusting, sick people who raised them. (or tried to).
I haven't had any red meat since I was 10 years-old, and stopped eating all meat of any kind whatsoever when I was 16 (approaching 20 years now). 6'4, with weight varying between 215 and 225, depending on how much I've been exercising. I've never been a vegan, however.
One of the benefits of the diet is good digestion and elimination. I have yet to hear of a vegetarian who suffers from colitis.
Mowing is Murder?? ROFL!!
They didn't live longer because of inadequate medical care and knowledge. I never did claim they live longer though according to the Bible in the beginning people lived very long. Didn't stay that way though.
Yes, "meat-based" was a little vague. I meant that nearly all are some sort of blend of vegetable oil and tallow oil. Very few are all vetetable oil, and some restaurants that have claimed such (McDonald's at one point, I think) were found to have a significant amount of tallow oil in the mixture as well. And tallow is an animal product, so it's a no-no for the Vegans.
True enough but they also didn't have vaccines, open-heart surgery, etc.
And Ted IS 57 years old...
Got it and read it a few weeks ago. Good book with good points, some you have to take with a grain of salt, for example, keep in mind the author has a business selling live vitamins so he of course thinks those are the best. Not to say they aren't but...
That book has made me take an increasingly hard look at the average American diet, and I had already previously headed far away from the "white death" (bleached white flour etc) and processed foods loaded with preservatives.
I had conflicting emotions - reading it made me 1) want to eliminate absolutely everything unnatural from our family's food consumption, 2) really angry at the traditional nutritional/scientific/pharmaceutical community in this country, and 3) completely depressed that in our processed urban world, we can't get completely away from our self-created poisons, short of moving to the wilderness and becoming hunter/gatherers. :)
Seriously though, at the very least, it made me start buying organic milk for my kids. I might not be able to afford to have free-range meat shipped to my house, but I can eat the double cost of milk to avoid hormones. And thankfully, we have a number of hunters in our family and eat venison and fresh fish all year, so that's a plus as well.
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