10 Random Albums To Be Thankful For
Sweeten Your Online Shopping: Compartes 'Brown Friday' Sale
Local High Schooler Launches 'Hug a Ginger Day' Campaign
We Got Yer Holiday Spirit Right Here
Midnight Movie: Patton Oswalt's 'Christmas Shoes'
When we heard that a Georgia couple were sentenced to prison yesterday for the death-by-vegan-diet of their infant son, we got a little bit pissed off: "DAMN VEGANS and their DAMN DIETARY RESTRICTIONS! Now they're killing babies, what's next?? Muzzling tigers so they can't hunt their prey? De-fanging sharks so they can't devour fish? Ruining Christmas???"
Then we calmed down a bit and took a closer look at the story: the baby's death was due more to the fact that his parents were under-feeding him in general, not necessarily because of their personal dietary beliefs. Vegans don't believe in consuming animal products of any kind (no cheese, no milk, no eggs; yes, we know, it would be hard for us to continue living too), a definition which apparently includes breast milk in this case. Lamont Thomas and Jade Sanders had been feeding their baby only soy milk and apple juice, and seemed oblivous to the fact that their son weighed only 3.5 pounds. That's not being a Stupid Vegan, that's just plain STUPID.
Even if you choose not to go the breast-milk route (even though there have been countless studies that have proven that good ol' titty juice helps all kids to grow up smarter, healthier, and appreciative of the wonderfulness of boobies), how hard is it to blend up some tofu and beans and make them into protein-rich baby food? Seitan already TASTES like baby food, for god's sake. Add some banana to the mix and it's like a fitness shake for infants! The Vegetarian Resource Group offers additional nutritional tips and recipes for pregnant and nursing vegans.
The CDC has stated, however, that vegan mothers could be putting their babies at risk for neurological impairment. The ADA, however, maintains that a well-balanced vegan/vegetarian diet is totally fine for pregant and nursing mothers, as well as for growing kids, although B-12 and iron supplements are highly recommended.
But this still leaves questions in our mind, not only about breast milk (we're dying to know what it tastes like!), but about veganism in general. Los Angeles is teeming with veg-heads, so maybe some of you can enlighten us.
And while you're at it, can somebody explain the placenta-eating thing, too? Is is somehow related to eating duck fetuses? Because that is also confusing.
Does the committed vegan really believe that drinking breast milk is wrong? It is technically an animal by-product. So is it not vegan? Is it cannibalism? And what does this mean about other bodily fluids - is semen vegan? If a vegan gives a blowjob in the woods...nevermind.
One of the catchphrases that our vegan and vegetarian friends always live by is "If it has a face, hesitate!" meaning, don't eat things with faces. But what about mollusks? Oysters don't have faces, they're just little chunks of muscle encased in a shell that sit around all day and filter sea water. Are we really going to categorize them as sentient beings that deserve to NOT be eaten because of some half-cocked idea we might have that they might somehow realize that what they're feeling is pain? We say: NO! We hate to get all Princess Bride on your asses, but Life is Pain, and anybody who says anything different is selling something.
Don't get us started on lobsters. Did you know that lobster is more closely related to the cockroach than it is to the fish? Seriously. David Foster Wallace can consider the lobster all he wants, but it won't change the fact that they're BUGS, people. DELICIOUS, DELICIOUS BUGS OF THE SEA that should be honored and respected and coated liberally with butter.
Now, I know, I know, many vegans do respect bugs, and will even carry ants out of their homes into the garden instead of stomping on them. At the same time, though, some of these hard-core vegan friends of mine choose to eat candy that is loaded with high fructose corn syrup made from corn that comes from industrial farms, the very same farms that feed those poor, abused feedlot cattle and pigs. Sure, that candy doesn't contain any animal by-products, but it's being made by the same agro-industrial complex that is responsible for all that cruelty-full beef and pork.
All we're saying is that whether it be animal, vegetable, mineral, or somewhere in between, we would ALL do well to think a little bit harder about what we're eating, where it came from, and whether or not we're getting all the nutrition we need.
We still think dead baby jokes are funny, but negligence, ignorance, and sad-ass excuses for child abuse are not.
Photo via AP.
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
tweet this
post to facebook
These people are rediculous! THe point of veganism and vegetarianism is to not eat or harm in any way a being that cannot speak up for itself or defend itself. While human milk (and semen) are animal by-products, they are dispensed with the animal's permission. Its perfectly vegan to breastfeed because the mother (SHOULD!) consent to this. If she doesn't, she belongs in jail if her baby dies because of it.
Thanks, Richard! That totally makes sense to me, and in fact I wish I had reasoned it out like that. Vegans, you are now free to return to your knob-bobbing!
These parents BELONG in jail!
What you wrote is completly rediculous and ignorant. There are hundreds of child abuse cases every year in the US and because of one that was commited by vegans, vegans are being seen as "stupid" and following ideas that don't make sense. I have been vegan for awhile now and feel better than I ever have before. Most vegans live in superior health then the meat eaters. Many athletes including bodybuilders and marathon runners are vegans. It is known to prevent cancer, heart desease, diabetes, alzheimers, and pretty most common deseases. Your ideas about veganism are contorted and misled. The media, which is very powerful and under the government control, has twisted this story to give veganism controversy. The government gets a lot of money from the meat and dairy industry, and will continue to supprt them, and make veganism look bad, for personal financial benefits. I know that most people will disregard what I am saying but it is true. People everywhere are ignorant, because of the media and government we live under. Unless you are scared you should research veganism and vegetarianism. You will be amazed at the benefits for you and the enviorment, even if you don't care about the enviorment you can still do it for other reasons, like your personal health. It can reverse a number of deseases. Ignorance is NOT bliss. Please don't talk about what you don't know, cause you are the one being stupid.
In the case of these parents, they may have been trying to kill their child and were using veganism as an excuse. The way the father talks about it makes it seem like they shouldn't be convicted just because they are vegans, very fishy. Or maybe the parents were pyshco. Vegans are about nature and embrassing the existance of all life. The human body is a herbivores body (proven fact). The child is meant to consume the mothers milk, as a vegan there is no beliefs against drinking your mothers breast milk. Vegans believe it is stupid to drink the milk of another animal's mother's milk, it is only met fot he baby. Cow's and Goat's milk is also unsanitary and contains harmfull proteins called casein, which is known to cause liver cancer. The article states that the family fed him soy milk and juice, that is amazingly stupid, cause they didn't feed them food. And soy milk has not been proven as completly safe for newborns.
And Please stop making jokes about vegans giving head, it's a very old joke, and yes, if a vegan wants to swallow they will. Again, vegans are about nature and happiness, sex can be cause a great deal of physical happiness.
Although you were basically a complete jerk to all vegans, I'll still answer your question:
Yes, breast milk is vegan. Vegans believe that cow milk is for cows (i.e. because it comes from the tit of a cow). Therefore, breast milk (i.e. from humans) is for human infants. No vegan I've ever known has been against breast-feeding.
Rather, the only time I've ever heard of people saying anything about vegans not being able to breastfeed was by smartasses who try to make vegans look stupid.
Well, apparently from this story, some "vegans" don't need help looking stupid. You'd think these two people would've noticed how it says "NOT to be used as an infant formula" on the soy milk. Soy formulas are available.
These two people should've breastfed. You'd also think that when their baby was six weeks old and weighed half the weight of a healthy NEWBORN, they'd have been like "WTF?" But they weren't... I don't know. The story's strange. And sad.
Please stop acting like vegans are douchebags. I don't eat HFCS or any other artificial, refined, etc. foods.
Life is pain, as you said, and that's why we should try to avoid it. You and most other anti-vegan people (or you act pretty anti-vegan, at least) seem to think it's stupid to not eat animals, because they're just dumb animals. Well, even if you feel this way, maybe you'd think that since we're the only "smart" ones, we'd use our brain to make a healthier, more efficient, and more compassionate choice.
Keep posting these things, though. It was a rather interesting read and makes you look really, really smart.
Cody, thanks for your input. I'm totally not anti-vegan. The choice about what to eat is personal; I've just observed vegans who don't think too much about what they're eating other than "it doesn't contain animal products." This was not meant to be a generalization, but rather a bit of anecdotal evidence that I used only to make a larger point. Obviously, the food system in this country is totally fucked up for lots of reasons, and the choice to be vegan is an excellent way to avoid contributing to said system. In fact, I'm stoked to hear that you avoid HFCS because THAT shit is EVIL and I'm trying to spread the word. Check out my previous post on the Farm Bill if you need more proof.
Please also understand that writing an opinion piece for a general audience requires the use of things like "tone", "point of view" and the occasional "exaggeration for the purposes of humor." Any writer will tell you that. If you and I were to, say, sit down and have a conversation in real life about this issue, I promise you I would be open-minded and much less of an asshole than I come off as in print. In fact, you might even like me! You might even conclude that I am REALLY REALLY SMART!!!
And also that I totally love the word douchebag. DOUCHE! Tee hee.
Carrie that was exactly what I was thinking but being not very good at expressing my thoughts in writing I keep my posts short and sweet. I'm glad you posted before I attempted a rebuttal and botch things up. Keep up the great writing.
The first comment fully articulates the view of virtually all vegans.
Breast milk tastes pretty rich, and somewhat sweet. Imagine half and half sweetened with a little sugar and that's pretty close to it. You can make your own that way if you can't find a willing donor by gently heating above recipe in a microwave to body temperature.
Enjoy!
vegan, vegetarianism ou any kind of extremity is sickening... let people eat what they want, and hold them accountable for their acts.
I myself only eat vegetarian. I eat vegeterian cows, pigs, chickens and fish!
Mike:
Cows may be vegetarian (unless fed reprocessed animal products, as they so often are in our factory farms). But pigs, chicken, and fish most certainly aren't! (Well, depends on the type of fish, but not tuna, that's for sure! Tuna's a top predator.)
Carrie: Nice, level-headed response to Cody's fair, but hot-headed critique.
You've got your facts wrong - not about vegans but about these parents. They feed the baby a diet of MOSTLY soy milk and organic apple juice. They also stated that they fed him SOME breast milk and SOME Soy Infant Formula. A newborn baby should not eat any beans, bananas or tofu either. Newborns need only breast milk or infant formula for a complete diet. BTW, all formula brands offer Soy formula for the many baby's allergic to regular formula or even breast milk in rare cases.
The problem with these parents was the neglect of their child, not just what they fed the baby but how much, the fact that they delivered the baby right next door to a hospital but did it with no help (even by a midwife) in their bathtub. Not once did the child ever visit a hospital, pediatrician or anyone that could have helped. A responsible parent would do research on how to raise a vegan child in a healthy way and find a doctor that supported their choice whild monitoring the child's progress and health.
This couple neglected the overall needs of the child and after the jury deliberated, that is why they concluded the couple was guilty of malice murder, felony murder, involuntary manslaughter and cruelty to children.
Dr. Benjamin Spock in the most popular book on child care ever written recommends a vegan diet for children.
In virtually every other cases of child neglect and starvation the parents are not vegans. That fact never leads every headline. Everyone involved in this case including the prosecutor repeatedly stated that veganism did not cause this child's death. Still every article on the story, including yours, centers around the parents veganism.
It does not seem to matter if the parents are even actually vegans. In 2002 the headlines were all about Joseph and Silva Swinton, "vegan" parents who starved their baby Ice on a diet of "ground nuts, fresh-squeezed fruit juices, herbal tea, beans, cod liver oil and flax seed oil." Since when is cod liver oil vegan!?
This propaganda creates the dangerously false impression that veganism is harmful and dangerous. The fact is that the SAD (Standard American Diet) is extremely unhealthy and that a well constructed vegan diet is probably the healthiest diet of all.
We are experiencing an epidemic of childhood obesity and scaring people away from healthy diets is criminal. The only reason heart disease is not killing even more people is because we are better at saving lives after people end up in the emergency room.
Most vegans know much more about health and nutrition than your typical person. They carefully read the labels of everything they purchase. They read books on nutrition and are careful to include nutrients like vitamin B-12 in their diets. Many people choose become vegan for health reasons.
You should do some serious research and write a better article. Be careful about your sources. The meat, dairy, restaurant, fast food, pharmaceutical, etc. industries spend billions producing propaganda to confuse the issue and protect their multi-billion dollar businesses.
The get started go to Sourcewatch dot org and look up The Center for Consumer Freedom. Then read the books Becoming Vegan and The China Study.
Hey Stan! Go check out the LAist post on the Farm Bill. Let me know what you think.
If you noticed, I did provide links to websites that give good info on how to maintain a vegan/vegetarian lifestyle for your infant. I absolutely agree it can be accomplished, but I think the issue is much more complex than many of these commenters are willing or able to recognize.
Many pediatricians and medical professionals do take issue with Spock's recommendation, and I quote from the NYT (oh curses, Big Media!): "Raising children on an all-plant diet can be done, but it would be like climbing Mount Everest," said Dr. Michael Georgiess, professor of pediatrics and child development at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. "It would take an incredible amount of planning and balancing of nutrients."
You also have to admit that Dr Spock (who's been dead for nine years) hardly provides the most cutting-edge research on child nutrition.
While I take your point about being more rigorous in my research, I must acknowledge my own predilection towards authorities who spell correctly, cite their sources, and avoid the sort of hysterical rhetoric that our friend "Eric" evidences up in comment #4 - it's that kind of reactionary pose that causes me to be dismissive and even facetious towards vegan issues. I will aim for a more even-handed authorial voice next time.
Thanks for your input, Stan.
Carrie,
I love your writing and the very intelligent, kind responses to the comments.I just finished reading "The Omnivores Dilemma" by Michael Pollan. He explores industrial agriculture and sustainable farming and actually makes the subject entertaining and enlightening!
Post #4 is so misspelled that the poor writer's argument seems unintentionally comedic!