Two vegans who fed their 11-month-old daughter only mother's milk went on trial in northern France on Tuesday charged with neglect after their baby died suffering from vitamin deficiency.
Sergine and Joel Le Moaligou, whose vegan diet forbids consuming any animal product including eggs and cow's milk, called the emergency services in March 2008 after becoming worried about their baby Louise's listlessness.
When the ambulance arrived at their home in Saint-Maulvis, a small village 150 kilometres (90 miles) north of Paris, the baby was already dead.
The ambulance workers called the police because the child was pale and thin, weighing 5.7 kilos (12.5 pounds) compared to an average eight kilos for her age.
The baby had only been fed on the milk of her mother, who was aged 37 at the time.
An autopsy showed that Louise was suffering from a vitamin A and B12 deficiency which experts say increases a child's sensitivity to infection and can be due to an unbalanced diet.
"The problem of vitamin B12 deficiency could be linked to the mother's diet," said Anne-Laure Sandretto, deputy prosecutor in the city of Amiens where the trial is taking place.
The couple has been charged with "neglect or food deprivation followed by death" and face up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
Society's Child
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The Naive Vegetarian
Reader Comments
So
At the very best they were stupid and niaive, and at the very worst they were deliberately negligent enough to cause a child's death. I think they deserve punishment for that. That child had no choice, but they could have sought help at any time.
At the very best they were stupid and niaive, and at the very worst they were deliberately negligent enough to cause a child's death. I think they deserve punishment for that. That child had no choice, but they could have sought help at any time.
Is this
a low blow at breastfeeding? Breast IS BEST! I have known many breastfed kids who were fed little else for their first year of life and were robustly healthy. Vegan or not.
a low blow at breastfeeding? Breast IS BEST! I have known many breastfed kids who were fed little else for their first year of life and were robustly healthy. Vegan or not.
No food for thought?
To me, this story illustrates the perfect example of how one can be so caught up in their illusion that they know better than the universe. Such hubris can cause harm to not just self but others.
It's no accident of nature that when children are getting ready to eat solid foods that they begin to grow teeth.
By the same token, it's no accident that human beings are carnivores and therefore gain important nutrients from animal products that assist with brain functioning.
This couple, whether rationalizing their veganism for health or moral reasons, have cast aside their health and the life of their daughter. What is healthy or moral about that?
If anyone feels the need to pity anyone, at least place it rightly - at the feet of the child. She had neither the choice nor capacity to alter her situation.
To me, this story illustrates the perfect example of how one can be so caught up in their illusion that they know better than the universe. Such hubris can cause harm to not just self but others.
It's no accident of nature that when children are getting ready to eat solid foods that they begin to grow teeth.
By the same token, it's no accident that human beings are carnivores and therefore gain important nutrients from animal products that assist with brain functioning.
This couple, whether rationalizing their veganism for health or moral reasons, have cast aside their health and the life of their daughter. What is healthy or moral about that?
If anyone feels the need to pity anyone, at least place it rightly - at the feet of the child. She had neither the choice nor capacity to alter her situation.
misleading through omission
The mother was not simply a vegan. She had an extremely deficient diet, apparently mainly consisting in nettle juice and carrot juice. The couple rejected all conventional medicine and wouldn't take the baby to a doctor, even when she became very sick. They lived in an insalubrious home with no heating. They seem to have a deluded and cultish (and maybe psychotic) vision of nutrition and health that probably no vegan would identify with. (I heard this on the radio in France).
This case is unjustly being used to bash vegetarians, even though the absence of meat from this couple's diet is but one of many factors. The Breitbart article is guilty of deception by omission.
Our kids have grown up vegetarian (and breastfed from their vegetarian mother when they were little), they are particularly healthy and bright, as are most vegetarian children I know.
The mother was not simply a vegan. She had an extremely deficient diet, apparently mainly consisting in nettle juice and carrot juice. The couple rejected all conventional medicine and wouldn't take the baby to a doctor, even when she became very sick. They lived in an insalubrious home with no heating. They seem to have a deluded and cultish (and maybe psychotic) vision of nutrition and health that probably no vegan would identify with. (I heard this on the radio in France).
This case is unjustly being used to bash vegetarians, even though the absence of meat from this couple's diet is but one of many factors. The Breitbart article is guilty of deception by omission.
Our kids have grown up vegetarian (and breastfed from their vegetarian mother when they were little), they are particularly healthy and bright, as are most vegetarian children I know.
unnecessary...vegans live quite proper lengths of time as long as they consume the right combos of foods...this should not have happened. Imagine the grief of these parents, and guilt they are already bearing, and now throw them in jail for their dietetic choice? The world is going KABOOM and this is not an answer to anything. It does, however, hold the portent of infringing on personal choices people make. A good nutrition class would do far more to repatriate little Louise's life than 30 years in prison! Sorry, folks, but this is plain stupid when we are facing what the world faces now...sheesh.