Vegan diets are based on denial

Medical science accumulates over centuries. Every generation of new experts builds upon those centuries of wisdom. And yet we now have vegan mothers who simply discard all of those centuries of accumulated comprehension just because they don’t believe it.

Knowledge gained during the years required to gain a medical degree, and even knowledge gained over many years of medical practice, represents far more than just the total of that time.

Medical science accumulates over centuries. Every generation of new experts builds upon those centuries of wisdom.

A first-year medical student may now know far more about the workings of the human body than did the world’s foremost surgeon of the 18th century. Yet a modern student could not have attained that awareness without the labour of those who have previously studied, learned and passed down their insights.

And yet we now have vegan mothers who simply discard all of those centuries of accumulated comprehension just because they don’t believe it.

Worse still, their wilful ignorance puts at risk the health of extremely young children who are, without any say in the matter, put on vegan diets.

A Sydney couple fed their daughter such a strict diet she developed rickets. Picture: Monique Harmer

As an investigation by The Daily Telegraph reveals, Australian vegan mothers are commenting online with fellow vegans about turning their backs on science. And they are being congratulated for it.

“(The doctor basically said that a vegan diet is irresponsible and that I could even hinder his brain development by not giving him meat,” one mother told the site Vegan Baby Led Weaning.

“My doctor said some things I really don’t believe so I wanted some veggie moms’ opinions,” wrote another.

Just consider the implications of that line: “My doctor said some things I really don’t believe.” This represents a denial of human achievement built upon since intelligent life was first established on Earth. It is a basic denial of thought, and is all in the name of a diet cult.

The doctor who warned one vegan mother an exclusionary diet could hinder brain development was telling the truth.

No less an authority than AMA President Dr Tony Bartone notes that parents who placed their children on strict vegan diets ran the risk of leaving those children with iron and calcium deficiencies.

“Due to the developing nature of their brains and bones, the consequences of nutritional deficiencies in children can be catastrophic,” Dr Bartone said.

This is not a matter of opinion or belief. This is nothing to do with feelings or theories.

This is fact, plain and simple.

Friends deft natural chaos

The death toll following Indonesia’s devastating tsunami late yesterday reached nearly 200, and will doubtless continue rising as more victims are found.

To all who are suffering as a result of this disaster, please know Australia will stand as an ally during Indonesia’s recovery. We have done so in the past and we will do so now.

The sheer force of the tsunami was captured in terrifying online footage of the band Seventeen, swept off stage by a wave’s sudden and unstoppable arrival.

Beyond the shock of this catastrophe, Australia will be there.

Doctor’s door to Australia

Labor’s weakening of Australian border security led to 50,000 asylum seeker arrivals and more than 1000 needless deaths at sea.

And we are still paying for those ruinous policies.

The latest strategy to import asylum seekers involves attempted medical transfers.

Legal bids by refugee advocacy groups to achieve medical transfers have cost taxpayers almost half a million dollars just over the past few months.

Plainly, this increase is driven by cynical opportunism. Home Affairs has fielded more than 100 approaches from legal firms for medical transfers since July compared with just five in the 2017/18 financial year.

Either Manus and Nauru are enduring some kind of pandemic or refugee sympathisers are testing a new tactic. The latter case seems far more likely.

And medical resettlement claims may only increase after Labor endorsed such arrivals.

Immigration Minister David Coleman is concerned a future Labor government would open a new access point.

On Labor’s past form, his concern is justified.