A VEGETARIAN couple on the Greek island of Crete has been barred from adopting a child because of doubts about their diet, a local social welfare official said.

The decision was taken because the would-be adoptive parents, who have gone to court to overturn it, eat no meat or fish and officials feared this regimen would be applied to the child as well.

"We asked the University of Crete medical school on the issue and they said the child's diet must include meat, fish, etc," the head of the city's welfare services, Spyros Epitropakis, said.

"We do not discriminate but we were obliged to check this out. The issue is now in the hands of the judicial authorities," he said.

The university expert whose recommendation was used by the welfare services to reject the application has labeled the affair "unreasonable".

"It's unreasonable not to be given the child for being vegetarian," said Antonis Kafatos, a pediatrician and nutrition researcher.

"A child needs to eat fish, seafood and dairy products among other things, without meat being essential. But if the family has no intention of imposing its diet habits on the child, I don't see where the problem is," he said.

The case is to be examined on March 16.

Greece has one of the lowest birth rates in the European Union. Strict procedures covering adoption in the country often force couples to seek other options, such as adopting children sold by migrant gangs.


http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/vegetarian-couple-barred-from-adopting/story-fn3dxity-1226019462027


If what a parent eats is a defining factor , why are any Vegetarians allowed to bring up babies, adopted or bred?


The other angle, eating a vegetarian diet lengthens potential life span, so should meat eaters be allowed to adopt children since they will feed the children carcinogenic meat.

Makes you wonder how the countless millions of vegetarian Indians over centuries managed to survive!

The whole world's gone potty!

A balanced diet is crucial to a child`s development, but this law obviously needs some fine tuning.

While it's crazy, it's also Greece. Simple things like rulings are flexible in Greece. A few hundred Euros should put it right.

While I'm a pescetarian myself, I don't see any harm in a vegetarian diet, and many weeks I don't eat any seafood at all. My doctor described me as "disgustingly healthy" so it didn't do me any harm.

Its Greece, so who gives a crap.

Thanks for sharing the information of vegetarian couple of the Greek island....

muso wrote on Mar 11^th, 2011 at 9:09am:

While it's crazy, it's also Greece. Simple things like rulings are flexible in Greece. A few hundred Euros should put it right. While I'm a pescetarian myself, I don't see any harm in a vegetarian diet, and many weeks I don't eat any seafood at all. My doctor described me as "disgustingly healthy" so it didn't do me any harm.

Your smugness will be the end of you.