Vegans guilty on all counts for malnourishing baby

Yahoo.com ^ | April 5, 2003

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

A jury in Kew Gardens, N.Y. convicted a vegan couple of nearly starving their baby to death with a strict diet that the prosecutor described as "a path to hell."

Joseph and Silva Swinton, both 32, were found guilty in Queens Supreme Court of assault, reckless endangerment and endangering the welfare of a child.

The couple fed their toddler daughter, Ice, a homemade soy bean and herb infant formula that left the little girl with the appearance of a Third World famine victim and the developmental abilities of a newborn. At 15 months, Ice had no teeth and could not sit up, crawl or walk.

The Swintons will face up to 25 years in prison when sentenced at a later date by Judge Richard Buchter.

With their verdict, which came after two days of deliberations, the jury rejected arguments of the Swintons' attorneys, who said the couple wanted only the best for their baby and did not realize the harm the diet was causing her.

The felony assault and reckless endangerment convictions indicate the panel found the couple acted with "depraved indifference," or recklessness "so wanton" that it is equivalent to purposefully starving Ice. If the jury had found the Swintons simply reckless, they could have convicted them on misdemeanor charges that carry no mandatory jail time.

Assistant District Attorney Eric Rosenbaum said the pair treated their daughter "like a gerbil" and called the diet "a grotesque science project." He argued that the couple were well aware that their daughter was sick and showed "willfull blindness" to the problems.

"A 15-month-old child who cannot walk, cannot stand and cannot crawl — that tells you that something is very, very wrong," Rosenbaum told the jury during closing arguments.

All the panelists had experience caring for small children. None are vegetarians.

The girl, who will celebrate her third birthday in July, and her baby brother, Ini, born after the Swintons' arrests, now live with relatives of the couple. (Court papers spell the girl's name Ice, although the parents have spelled it Iice.)

The testimony of Silva Swinton was the three-week trial's dramatic highpoint and may have ultimately proved harmful to her defense. She told jurors that Ice "was thriving" on the vegan diet and suggested that it was hospitalizations and medical care ordered by social services that had made her daughter sick.

[BlueLancer]

"What is a vegan?"

Someone from Vega? From the photo, obviously there is some connection with Hale-Bopp (and the spaceship flying behind it).

Vega is a bright blue star 25 light years away. Vega is the brightest star in the Summer Triangle, a group of stars easily visible summer evenings in the northern hemisphere. The name Vega derives from Arabic origins, and means "stone eagle." 4,000 years ago, however, Vega was known by some as "Ma'at" - one example of ancient human astronomical knowledge and language. 14,000 years ago, Vega, not Polaris, was the north star. Vega is the fifth brightest star in the night sky, and has a diameter almost three times that of our Sun. Life bearing planets, rich in liquid water, could possibly exist around Vega. The above picture, taken in January 1997, finds Vega, the Summer Triangle, and Comet Hale-Bopp high above Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

[hellinahandcart]

Oh goodness, I remember this one. The man is a complete nutbar and the wife is a complete enabler. This is the fellow who wouldn't allow his wife to breastfeed because her milk had been "contaminated" by smoking pot six months prior to giving birth, and they couldn't find a commercial vegan baby formula that had NO animal products in it (most have at least a little lanolin in them), so they concocted their own out of ground nuts and vegetable oils and stuff. The baby had rickets and broken bones.

They barred the husband from the hospital, after the baby had been taken out of their care, because he complained obsessively that the baby was getting "fat". Then after the couple were finally arrested, he announced his wife was pregnant and no one was going to stop him from raising the next child the exact same way.

I don't have much respect for veganism but this definitely wasn't it, people. Most vegan women breastfeed for *years* just to avoid the problems of getting infants and toddlers to thrive on what the adults opt to eat.

This was a body-image psychosis on the part of Mom and Dad, that grew into a bizarre experiment. The lawyer that said they treated their baby like a gerbil were absolutely right.

I hope they get the max.

[hellinahandcart]

From archives: VEGAN DUO EXPECTING NEW BABY (won't alter diet)

[djf]

Humans are omnivores, thats all there is to it. Take a look at the animal kingdom, most carnivores are stealthy, fast, intelligent, and solitary. Herbivores are communal, slow, and somewhat on the dull side.

Not that there is any kind of lesson there...

[JudgemAll]

If there is meat, it is for a reason. If we dominate animals and we can model their behaviors, it is for a reason. This child does not belong to the god of grasses.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

"Ice, Ice, baby!"

[jamz]

Darwin was right about some things...

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

"Ice, Ice, baby!"

Ugh!

Those #@$^&% words [along with the #@%^& rythym!] has not stopped reverberating in my head since first reading this article...

Ha.

[<1/1,000,000th%]

"Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go!!"

That should complete your descent to the dark side of the force. ;)

[Zipporah]

You are right IMO.. if you read Dr. Perricone's book the Wrinkle Cure as well as his newest book, according to Dr. Perricone, one of the main reasons women have problems with their skin is to lack of protein.

[WarEagle]

giving you stinky doodies

??????

Who cares whether or not your doody stinks? Isn't that its function? Should your waste products smell like roses or something?

I know this is not your position or opinion, but that's the silliest thing to care about I ever heard.

Just proves the point that these people are a brick or so short of a load. They need a life, big time.

[glory]

I did not realize that. Most of the vegans that I have either known in "real life" or cyberspace with children(and I've known some who are pretty fanatical) are VERY fanatical about breastfeeding for an extended amount of time, militant in fact where breastfeeding becomes a political issue for them and has feminist and "choice" overtones(choice to breastfeed well in to the elementary years if they so desire). To me, someone who would not breastfeed and is a vegan does not subscribe to mainstream veganism anymore than the snake tamers in Pennsylvania can be considered mainstream fundamental Christians.

[glory]

It also isn't as harmful to the body as meat in terms of putrefaction,digestion and giving you stinky doodies.>>

If anyone ever had to be around some of my relatives after a salad eating and wheat germ binge, they would begin to question whether stinkier doodies are really made by the meateaters. I've never smelled anything so foul as the gas that omits from someone who eats more than their fair share of vegetables and fiber in a day. Sorry freepers...