If parliamentarian Elvira Savino has her way, Italian parents who insist on a vegan diet for their children will risk up to four years in jail.
若意大利国会议员萨维诺的提案通过,坚持让孩子吃纯素的父母将面临长达四年的监禁。
Savino, from the conservative Forza Italia party, has put forward a law that would hold parents legally responsible for feeding their children on "a diet devoid of elements essential for healthy and balanced growth".
保守派的意大利力量党议员萨维诺提出了一项法案,法案规定没有为子女提供健康平衡膳食的父母将负法律责任。
"I have nothing against vegans or veganism as long as it is a free choice by adults," she told Reuters in a telephone interview on Wednesday, days after she presented the proposed law in the lower house Chamber of Deputies.
在意大利众议院提出该法案后,她于当地时间8月10日接受路透社记者电话采访时表示:“我并不反对素食者及素食主义,只要这是成年人自己的选择。”
"I just find it absurd that some parents are allowed to impose their will on children in an almost fanatical, religious way, often without proper scientific knowledge or medical consultation," she said.
她解释:“我只是发现有些家长用近乎狂热的传教方式将自己的意愿强加给孩子,他们没有听从正确的科学指导,也没有咨询过医生的建议,这着实荒谬可笑。”
"Do-it-yourself on these matters terrorizes me."
“他们的这种自以为是真是吓到我了。”
Some pediatricians advise against feeding children on a vegan diet, which they say can lack sufficient nutrition.
一些儿科医生提议反对让孩子吃纯素,因为只摄入素食会让孩子缺乏足够的营养。
Vegetarians do not eat meat, fish, or poultry and vegans also do not eat animal products such as eggs and dairy foods.
素食者们不吃肉、鱼、禽类,而纯素食者甚至不食用诸如鸡蛋和奶制品等动物产品。
The law proposes jail sentences of a year for raising a child on a vegan diet, up to four years if the child develops a permanent health problem and up to seven years if the child dies as a result.
萨维诺提出的法案规定,以纯素食喂养孩子将面临一年的监禁。如果孩子因此出现长期健康问题,父母要坐牢长达四年。如果孩子最终因此死亡,父母面临的刑期则将长达七年。
It would apply to children under 16 and penalties would increase by a year if the child is under three.
该法案将适用于16岁以下儿童的父母,若孩子在三岁以下,刑期则再追加一年。
Savino, 39, who has a seven-year-old son and who eats meat "but not too much", said she proposed the law after being shocked by several recent incidents in Italy.
39岁的萨维诺是一个七岁男孩的母亲,孩子吃肉并不多。最近在意大利发生的几起令人震惊的吃素儿童事件让她决定提出这一法案。
Last month in the northern city of Milan, doctors determined that a one-year-old boy who was taken to a hospital had the weight of a three-month-old because of a vegan diet.
上个月在意大利北部城市米兰,一位到医院看病的一岁男童体重只与三个月大的婴儿相当,经医生诊断这是由于父母只给他吃素食造成的。
In 2015, an Italian court ordered a divorced mother to stop raising her 12-year-old son on a vegan diet after the boy's father filed a complaint that it was stunting his growth.
2015年,在一位父亲的申诉下,意大利一家法院下令要求一位单亲母亲停止强迫12岁的儿子吃纯素,因为这影响了儿子的身体发育。
"If even only one child ends up in a hospital because of this behavior, I feel we have to protect them all," said Savino, noting that she believes pediatricians should be obliged to report vegan parents to authorities just as they would if they noticed signs of physical abuse on a child.
“就算只有一个孩子最后因为吃纯素住进医院,我们也有责任对所有的孩子进行保护。”萨维诺如是说道。她认为儿科医生们注意到强迫孩子吃纯素的虐待行为,他们有义务向当局通报这些作为纯素者的父母。
The draft will be discussed by parliamentary committees before it goes to the floor for debate. That is expected this year.
该提案将在议会委员会讨论后就其内容进行辩论,并有望于今年得出结果。