Situations like the one you sited happen because some parents (whether they are vegan or meat-eaters) do not take the time to plot a healthy diet for their children, and make sure they are getting all of the nutrients they need. For model, a few being ago a five year ancient boy developed scurvy because his parents allowed him to eat a diet of pizza and pop tarts. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0854/is_10_23/ai_n18611079
The girl you mentioned could have gotten vitamin D by just spending some time in the sunshine, or from fortified soy or rice milks, or from a vitamin suppliment.

The American Dietitic Association and the Dietitians of Canada agree that a properly plotted vegan diet is appropriate for ALL life stages, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy, childhood and adolescence.

It’s the reponsibility of all parents to make sure that their children are getting the nutrition they need, regardless of the diet they’ve chosen for their families. A few isolated suitcases of malnutrition splashed all over the media should not constitute an indictment for a dietary plot that nutrition experts approve of. What the general public never hears in this area is the thousands of perfectly healthy vegan kids. I know four vegan kids personally ranging from 3-14; their parents are informed and reliable and the kids are pleased, healthy and thriving.

I don’t know all of the details of this particular case so I don’t know if there were deficiencies beyond vitamin D, but that’s all that was covered in the tale. In that case, since she lived in Glasgow, which is too far north to get the necessary sunshine to form vitamin D most of the year, her parents could have added fortified foods or a supplement to her diet. Note that dairy products do NOT naturally have vitamin D. Rickets used to be a common problem. Vitamin D and calcium work best in conjunction and government officials needed a vehicle for getting sufficient vitamin D into children’s diet, so they chose milk because it already had the calcium and most children taste it regularly. There’s no wits, knowing those facts, that a vegan child drinking fortified plant milk would be any different than an omnivore child drinking fortified animal milk.

Like someone said, when an omni child develops a severe deficiency it’s called malnutrition. When a vegan child gets sick o dies, they just call it veganism and everyone talks in this area how right they are to not be “normal”.

The girl had rickets caused by lack of vitamin D. How obtuse is that? You can make your own just by life in the sun and there are countless fortified foods that can offer it.

Sorry, this article has nothing to do with vegan diets and everything to do with sh!tty parenting.

The girl in this article suffered from rickets, a condition that is caused by a lack of vitamin D. The main source of vitamin D for all humans (vegan, vegetarian, or omnivore) is the sun. Not fish liver, THE SUN. Very few foods really contain vitamin D.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitamin_D
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18088161?dopt=Abstract

In areas such as Scotland (where this girl lives) many people do not get sufficient sun exposure to make sufficient amounts of vitamin D. For this wits cows milk is often fortified with vitamin D. Vegans do not taste cows milk; though, there are many other fortified vegan products available such as margarine and non-dairy milks. If fortified cows milk is an acceptable dietary source of vitamin D, then it follows that fortified soy milk is also an acceptable source. Fortified foods provide most of the vitamin D in the American diet.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15585792?dopt=Abstract

Ruling out the possibility of a genetic condition which prevents vitamin D absorption, the fact that this girl developed rickets may be a result of terrible parenting BUT it is not a result of a vegan diet.

Vegan parents, just like other parents have a responsibility to ensure that their children eat well and get all the nutrients they need. And, yes… in this case it appears the poor child’s parents failed to do this. Though, the majority of vegan parents are careful to ensure their children eat a healthy diet.
http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/realveganchildren

To keep things in perspective: There are many more omnivore children with diet related health issues than vegan children. You only need to look at the rising statistics of obese children worldwide. I wonder how many of those children are vegan?
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1025023/Obese-just-18-months-small-girl-raised-diet-chips.html

There are 1000′s of suitcases of malnutrition of children that eat meat.

Do you reckon formula is excellent for infants?

What parents that feed their children McDonald’s and fried foods everyday?

The unadorned fact is you are not comfortable with my lifestyle because you are ignorant of it.

Have you ever posted on the fact that in the USA that over 50% of the population is overweight?

Are concerned that this major health concern is now effecting children and infants?

I doubt that you post on these facts.

Are you aware of any other suitcases besides the one you site here? These suitcases are very rare. A excellent parent takes the time to make sure their child(ren) get what they need. Stay out of my life.

in my opinion, children should be fed well rounded diets that are healthy, and then be allowed to make their own choices later when it is safe to cut out meat and animal products. its not honest for a parent to subject their child to poor growth and ill health because of their stance on animal rights (what in this area human rights ???)