[Vegan Joe]

http://www.azfamily.com/news/local/s...e.8355aa1.html

^^^ complete article ^^^ ( might need to close popup)

05:56 PM Mountain Standard Time on Monday, March 12, 2007

By Frank Camacho / 3TV reporter

A Valley couple is on trial, they say, for their vegan beliefs.

But prosecutors say their actions go far beyond philosophy to child abuse after their three children were reportedly found severely malnourished.

Blair and Kimu Parker are strict vegans and say they do not feed their children meat or animal byproducts.

But their practices came under question after their children were found severely underweight and the couple was arrested last May.

 

[berrykat]

who the heck eats just carrots!!!!! These people are crazy. I don't think they know what vegan means.

 

[GhostUser]

How ridiculous. They shouldn't even be calling it a vegan lifestyle.

 

[Irizary]

Well that's weird. My diet consists solely of 30 pounds of ground carrots per week, too, and I feel great

 

[HandcuffedAngel]

I can't read the article.

In any case, from what I hear it sounds like a simple case of pure stupidity/ignorance on the part of the parents.

What's sad is this is why so many people claim a vegan lifestyle is unhealthy.

 

[Thalia]

I hope the prosecution has a real vegan with nutrition knowledge as a witness to prove that they are not being persecuted for their their veganism, but their stupidism.

 

[berrykat]

eating that many carrots would make you orange.......

 

[Washoe]

These people should be shot. I hope they like prison food. Maybe theyll get fed nothing but carrots and multi-vitamins.

 

[GhostUser]

Dr. Elizabeth Zoran testified that Parker said Zion had lost half of her body weight one month prior to the arrest.

omfg.

 

[Quinoa]

The horror.

I think these people do not even know what veganism is.

I also hope the prosecution will point out that this is a case of severe child abuse in the form of starvation / malnourishment, and has not really much to do with veganism at all. Sadly like HCA said, such (very rare, I would think, although a single case is already terrible enough) cases feed many people's stereotype views of veganism... Also, when non-vegans malnourish/starve their children, which does happen (more than with vegans, I would actually assume, because in most cases you never hear anything at all about the form of nourishment they were NOT giving to their children, and if they were vegan I am quite sure it would be mentioned...), I never hear anybody blame it on their omnivorism...

 

[Kiz]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HandcuffedAngel

What's sad is this is why so many people claim a vegan lifestyle is unhealthy.

I thought what was sad about this is the extent to which these children were neglected, their extreme malnourishment and the horrible upbringing that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. But that's just me. I'd gladly put up with a bunch of stranger thinking I was unhealthy if these kids could have avoided that.

 

[Quinoa]

Who would not. The worst and saddest thing about this of course is the children suffering, and that there are people doing something like this to their children.

However, you might feel less cool about strangers thinking veg*ns are unhealthy, if you had veg*n children or knew people bringing up veg*n children and facing constant criticism by some relatives/acquaintances/strangers. Such criticism is often based on ignorance, stereotypes and isolated cases of so-called/self-proclaimed vegans like here. I dont know if thats what HCA wanted to express by calling it sad though, but its what I meant when agreeing. There are people out there who use this kind of cases to point a finger at veg*n parents in general and say that bringing up children veg*n was child abuse or malnourishment.

 

[Kula]

Out of the other several hundred cases of child malnurishment, do they mention that 'omnivorous parents' malnourished their children?

This case has nothing to do with Veganism and everything to do with malnourishment. The fact that the family is Vegan is irrelevant.

 

[Cissy]

These people are ****ed up.

 

[isowish]

that's so sad

I hope those poor kids get better and don't go back to live with their crazy parents.

 

[GhostUser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kula

Out of the other several hundred cases of child malnurishment, do they mention that 'omnivorous parents' malnourished their children?

This case has nothing to do with Veganism and everything to do with malnourishment. The fact that the family is Vegan is irrelevant.

 

[h1pp1eboy]

man some people i cant belive someone would do this to there own children i am sure though i agree that it has nothing to do with them being vegan there just crazy i am sure there are plenty of vegan adults and there chilrdren are fine

 

[IamJen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kiz

I thought what was sad about this is the extent to which these children were neglected, their extreme malnourishment and the horrible upbringing that will stay with them for the rest of their lives. But that's just me. I'd gladly put up with a bunch of stranger thinking I was unhealthy if these kids could have avoided that.

That is sad, but HA's statement is sad too in that, since the media (or much of it) will undoubtedly put this forth as a "vegan" diet, then some people *will* think that this is what veganism is all about.

 

[sybaritik]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cissy

These people are ****ed up.

Yep, could do with some family therapy for sure.

 

[Vegan Joe]

Latest news on this misconception:

Vegan found guilty of child abuse

Michael Kiefer

The Arizona Republic

Apr. 10, 2007 03:37 PM

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articl...er0410-ON.html