Re Putting children on strict vegan diets is unethical

[Guest guest]

here is a letter I sent to Lindsey in response to her reply ...

 

 

all the best

Craig

 

 

Putting children on strict vegan diets is "unethical"

Lindsey,

Thank You for setting the record straight? I found your research is much better managed than the comments I heard on the BBC or read in the paper. this kind of publicity plagues Vegans. and once it is said it cannot be undone.

I too have been misquoted in interviews with the press on several issues over the years. most recently on GMO in Australia.

I was very Angry when I wrote the first letter to you. What I see when I see someone who concerns themself with the welfare of Children or starving people yet ignores the welfare of factory farmed animals is a person who has the blinders on and only sees what is in front of them nothing around them.

as for feeding the world on meat well'.... the world just doesn't or cannot support the population of animals it would take in order to feed all of us on the average western diet.

I am going to through some numbers at you from memory so I may be off a touch but I assure you the numbers are close to the reality.. ok if ...

 

1. every person in the world ate meat at the same rate as the average American the world could at best support 3-4 billion people

2. if every person on the planet ate a vegan diet the world could support 25 billion people

 

now both of these are assuming existing farm land with no derogation of topsoil etc..

 

3. the USA use 40% of their Petroleum in the production of meat and only 7-10% on non animal crops much of which is feed to the animals

 

4. 25 billion animals are killed each year in order to feed the American people (based on 280 million people)

European Union has 450 million people and kills an additional 35 billion animals

this combined population accounts for almost 70% of the food animals used in the world. so keeping this in mind

if everyone ate meat at that rate we would have to slaughter 550 billion animals each year

so Lindsey you see my point this is just not sustainable in anyone's book

so the answer is to cut meat eating not increase it

have a look at www.peta2.org there is a lot of facts and figures on there site and research data that supports some of my paraphrased facts.

 

now as for ethics well the jury is still out in my book but you have made some Major amends and I thank you for your time to write me

all the best

Craig Dearth

 

 

Re: Putting children on strict vegan diets is "unethical"Dear Craig. Thank you for your thoughtful? letter. Here are some comments that might, I hope, make you fell better. Sincerely, Lindsay AllenDue to a large amount of mail I don't have time to answer you with a long letter. Yes, I am coming from 25 years of working with populations in which micronutrient deficiencies are widespread because there are insufficient animal source foods in the diet, and mothers and children suffer major problems as a result. Nobody working in international nutrition would disagree with this - the problem is mainly poor food quality, not quantity - and if the latter is true, the former will be as well.However, I agree the link with our Africa study was not strong and we would much rather have talked about that study except that the reporter's interest was about vegans as they are more newsworthy apparently (but not in my mind for sure!). The reporters brought up the vegans comparison. The point of doing the African study is that I for one am fed up with the "let them take pills to get micronutrients" attitude that for one reason or another (well intentioned of course) has characterized the interventions in these populations for the past 20 years. I have done many of those interventions myself.The news reporter "hyped" my concern about vegan diets for pregnant/lactating mothers and infants/children by not adding the sentence I was emphatic they keep in, namely that vegan diets were unethical UNLESS those who practiced them were well-informed about how to add back the missing nutrients through supplements or fortified foods (which people in Africa unfortunately don't have).I completely agree that it is possible to add back those missing nutrients and myself have stated this in a position paper on nutrition in pregnancy for the American Dietetic Association. I also agree that well-managed vegan diets, plus supplements plus fortified foods to get those missing nutrients, are probably healthier for adults and even many children than the average US or UK diet. Lacto-ovo diets need less careful attention.The most alarming part of this experience has been the amazing amount of misinformation that vegans have imparted to me in response to my (definitely misinterpreted and hyped) comments. I hope this issue gets STUDIED responsibly so we can all be reassured.At 06:13 PM 2/21/2005, you wrote:

Hello Professor Allen, I really think before you take money from the Dairy & meat industryand make public comments you should get your facts straight. your basis is on a really poor African diet that just about any food would help improve the diet of these people and you try to apply this to the western diet,there are NO Vitamins (except E) in Meat or dairy only minerals and protein.so the nutritional aspects you are talking about are MUTE. as for improved memory etc.. well I think you would find if you just added a couple spoons of soy or lentils to their diet you would get a far better result. I don't really want to waste too much of my time telling you things you already know . I just wanted to tell you YOUR ethics SUCK you really are the lowest of the low in your unethical money grabbing game. Craig Dearth cd39 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4282257.stm Putting children on strict vegan diets is "unethical" and could harm theirdevelopment, a US scientist has argued.Lindsay Allen, of the US Agricultural Research Service, attacked parents whoinsisted their children lived by the maxim "meat is murder".Animal source foods have some nutrients not found anywhere else, she told aWashington science conference.The Vegan Society dismissed the claims, saying its research showed veganswere often healthier than meat eaters.'Development affected'Professor Allen said: "There have been sufficient studies clearly showingthat when women avoid all animal foods, their babies are born small, theygrow very slowly and they are developmentally retarded, possiblypermanently." There's absolutely no question that it's unethical for parents tobring up their children as strict vegans Professor Lindsay Allen, director of the US Agricultural ResearchService"If you're talking about feeding young children, pregnant women andlactating women, I would go as far as to say it is unethical to withholdthese foods [animal source foods] during that period of life."She was especially critical of parents who imposed a vegan lifestyle ontheir children, which denied them milk, cheese, butter and meat."There's absolutely no question that it's unethical for parents to bring uptheir children as strict vegans," she said at the American Association forthe Advancement of Science meeting........