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Vegan girl, 12, 'has spine of 80-year-old'
Times Online ^ | 6/8/08 | Mark Macaskill

Posted on 06/11/2008 10:38:39 AM PDT by Dawnsblood

A girl of 12 brought up by her parents on a strict vegan diet has been admitted to hospital with a degenerative bone condition said to have left her with the spine of an 80-year-old.

Doctors are under pressure to report the couple, from Glasgow, to police and social workers amid concerns her health and welfare may have been neglected in pursuit of their beliefs.

The youngster, fed on a strict meat- and dairy-free diet from birth, is being treated at the city’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children. She is said to have a severe form of rickets and to have suffered a number of fractured bones. The condition is caused by a lack of vitamin D, which is needed to absorb calcium and is found in liver, oily fish and dairy produce.

Dr Faisal Ahmed, the consultant treating the child, said he believed the dangers of forcing children to follow a strict vegan diet needed to be highlighted. “Something like this needs publicity,” he said. However, he refused to blame the parents, who are understood to be well-known figures in Glasgow’s vegan community: “We shouldn’t name and shame . Mum feels guilty about the whole thing and feels bad about it.”

Jonathan Sher, head of policy at Children in Scotland, said: “If the consequence of parental behaviour is physical, mental or emotional harm to a child, then the child protection system should become involved.” Bill Aitken, justice spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, added: “If the youngster is coming to clinical harm, something must be done.”

In 2001, British vegans Hazmik and Garabet Manuelyan, from Staines, were sentenced to three years’ community rehabilitation after they admitted starving daughter Arenai, 10 months, to death. She had been fed nothing but breast milk, raw fruit, vegetables and nuts.

(Excerpt) Read more at timesonline.co.uk ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; United Kingdom
KEYWORDS: animalrights; childabuse; cpswatch; diet; dontexcerpt; dontsnip; health; needlesslyedited; needlesslyexcerpted; nutrition; postitall; rickets; uk; vegan; veganism; vitamind
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To: Dawnsblood

One doesn’t simply put a dietary practice ahead of a child’s health unless that practice comes from deeply held religious beliefs.


21 posted on 06/11/2008 10:52:45 AM PDT by bobjam
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To: EggsAckley

I saw that...

Child was sacrificed on a vegan altar.


22 posted on 06/11/2008 10:54:02 AM PDT by TASMANIANRED (TAZ:Untamed, Unpredictable, Uninhibited.)
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To: Dawnsblood
At least no animals suffered! Degenerative bone conditions are a small price to pay for a low carbon footprint and a cruelty-free diet. The 12 year olds' sickness is just penance for her very existence, for her sins of eating vegetable matter carbon sinks and exhaling greenhouse gases.

Aren't these people vegan "moderates"? I mean, they had a kid - I thought orthodox vegans were supposed to eschew reproduction and abort all fetal "accidents" as to not subject mother earth to more virulent, destructive, wasteful, worthless humans. Maybe this is Gaea's punishment for their apostasy.

23 posted on 06/11/2008 10:54:10 AM PDT by M203M4 (True Universal Suffrage: Pets of dead illegal-immigrant felons voting Democrat (twice))
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To: DannyTN

Amen...


24 posted on 06/11/2008 10:54:25 AM PDT by GauchoUSA
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To: Liberty 275
“She had been fed nothing but breast milk”

isnt that an animal product?

 Depends on Mom.

25 posted on 06/11/2008 10:54:31 AM PDT by Harrius Magnus (I am the town square.)
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To: Jersey Republican Biker Chick
I think they serve cheeseburgers here.
26 posted on 06/11/2008 10:56:24 AM PDT by Dawnsblood
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To: Dawnsblood

“who are understood to be well-known figures in Glasgow’s vegan community”

What is a “vegan community”?


27 posted on 06/11/2008 10:57:40 AM PDT by caver (Yes, I did crawl out of a hole in the ground.)
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To: caver
What is a “vegan community”?

A group of bad hunters.

28 posted on 06/11/2008 10:59:13 AM PDT by Grizzled Bear ("Does not play well with others.")
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To: Ghost of Philip Marlowe
Yep; I used to be a Derbyshire fan and I will never forget his article on the "New Class," which was years ago literally, and in term of beliefs by both him and me.

The question: "Why should I not do as I please within the law, so long as I harm no-one else?" would, at all earlier times, have drawn one or both of the answers: "Because it offends God" or "Because you will become a social outcast".

The first of these has no force for our new elites, who do not believe in God; the second is not only without force for them, it is without meaning. To exclude a person from one's drawing-room because their personal pleasures are aberrant would be "discrimination". Larry Flynt is an honored and effective member of the Clinton team...

 Etc.

 Thanks for your post.

29 posted on 06/11/2008 11:03:53 AM PDT by Harrius Magnus (I am the town square.)
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To: Ghost of Philip Marlowe

What you said, except substitute “who’s” for “whose.” ;)


30 posted on 06/11/2008 11:04:06 AM PDT by 1rudeboy
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To: Dawnsblood

Trial begins for a Scottsdale vegan who starved his kids [Phoenix]
Tue Jun 03, 2008

Last year, Blair Parker saw his wife, Kimu, sentenced to 30 years in prison for her role in the slow starvation of the Scottsdale couple’s three children. With his trial under way today, he’s hoping to avoid the same tough penalty. (snip)

The Parkers forced their home-schooled kids on a low-calorie Vegan diet for years and didn’t reverse course even as the kids’ bodies began wasting away.

The Parkers were arrested in April 2005 after one of their daughters, 3-year-old Zion, began having seizures and they called authorities, who were shocked at the girl’s appearance. Zion weighed only 13 pounds and was suffering from extreme malnutrition. (snip)

http://blogs.phoenixnewtimes.com/valleyfever/2008/06/trial_to_begin_this_week_for_h.php


31 posted on 06/11/2008 11:04:06 AM PDT by donna (Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.)
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To: driftdiver
There were two kids in my grade school carpool back in the 60s whose parents were strict vegans and forced the kids to be vegans too.

They were the weediest, sickliest, pasty-skinned little kids you ever saw. I don't remember their intellectual capabilities -- but they caught every bug going around the school, never played on the playground, pretty pathetic.

The dad of one of the other kids in carpool was a pediatrician and a close friend of my parents, and I remember them discussing in my hearing what they could do about it, but not whether they were going to try what's now called an "intervention" or report the parents to somebody. Never heard what came of it, all of that was way above my pay grade.

But the pediatrician said that vitamin supplements and stuff like that wouldn't do the trick, that there were nutrients that growing kids needed that you could only get from milk, meat, fish and eggs. He said once you were finished growing, you could abuse your body a whole lot more and get away with it.

32 posted on 06/11/2008 11:04:17 AM PDT by AnAmericanMother (Ministrix of Ye Chase, TTGC Ladies' Auxiliary (recess appointment))
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To: Dawnsblood

Those Vegans better watch out - the United Federation of Planets might send a starship to investigate.


33 posted on 06/11/2008 11:06:21 AM PDT by Some Fat Guy in L.A. (Nope. Not gonna do it.)
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To: Dawnsblood

Humans are supposed to eat meat. Had pre-man and early man not developed into meat eaters, the human race would not have developed a high level of intelligence. Meat is nutritionally dense, while plant matter is nutritionally sparse. Eating meat gave man time to do other things like developing tools and other technological innovations.

Animals that eat only plant food have to graze most of the time to get enough nutrients. Compare a cow to a lion. A cow has to graze all day, while a lion may eat only 2-3 weeks.


34 posted on 06/11/2008 11:06:21 AM PDT by Signalman
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To: Dawnsblood

About the other vegan morons mentioned in the article:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/southern_counties/3172027.stm


35 posted on 06/11/2008 11:06:29 AM PDT by vladimir998 (Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ. St. Jerome)
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To: Ghost of Philip Marlowe

Great post!

Remember when folks would actually blush?

When was the last time we read of, or actually saw a person blush.

More rare than hen’s teeth!


36 posted on 06/11/2008 11:08:27 AM PDT by woollyone (100 rounds per week totals 5000 rounds in a year. Just thought you'd want to know.)
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To: Bobkk47
A cow has to graze all day, while a lion may eat only 2-3 weeks.

"A lion may eat only 2-3 times per week", is what I meant to write.
37 posted on 06/11/2008 11:08:27 AM PDT by Signalman
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To: Dawnsblood
However, he refused to blame the parents,

Absolutely blame the parents, there is nothing different from this sort of abuse, and the parents who refuse to let their child see a doctor and rather just pray. Other than this sort of abuse went on for YEARS to get this girl in this state.

This poor girl has been sacrificed due to her parents idiotic beliefs. There are pleanty of children that grow up in cultures that do not eat meat and are healthy, none ignore dairy and meat.. this is just stupid, and guarantees your child this sort of pain.

These parents put their lifestyle above their child, and that is inexcusable.

38 posted on 06/11/2008 11:09:48 AM PDT by HamiltonJay
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To: Dawnsblood
Wonderful... the parents most likely banned dairy products from this child's diet.

low-fat and no-fat (1% or skim) dairy is extremely important for a girl's/woman's bone health. Bonus: calcium helps to keep a woman slim as well as keep her bones strong

another weight loss secret --> eat protein found in 3 oz portions of grass fed beef, poultry, and pork as well as wild fish caught in the U.S. (no farm fed fish or chicken)

chow down on lots of green vegetables, tomatoes, etc.

and CHEAT once a week on ONLY 1 of your favorite foods... :o)

39 posted on 06/11/2008 11:10:22 AM PDT by xtinct (I was the next door neighbor kid's imaginary friend.)
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To: bobjam
One doesn’t simply put a dietary practice ahead of a child’s health unless that practice comes from deeply held religious beliefs.

Which deeply held religious beliefs trump a child's health? IMO "faith" healing is criminal.
40 posted on 06/11/2008 11:12:03 AM PDT by contemplator (Capitalism gets no Rock Concerts)
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