Posted by: "Herma Caelen" herma.caelen@...   hecal_2000

Fri Oct 14, 2011 2:18 am (PDT)
EUROPEAN VEGETARIAN UNION
PRESS RELEASE:
The French Government Outlaws Vegetarianism in Schools

Whoever believes that animals are not ours to eat is now in France a
second-class citizen.

A governmental order issued on October 2, 2011(1) has determined that all
meals served in school canteens in France must contain animal products, and
that meat and fish will be served at a certain minimum frequency. This
implies that by law from now on no vegetarian can eat at any public or
private school in France.

Six million schoolchildren are now forced to eat animal flesh, whether they
wish to or not. For many families lunch at home is not an option. At best, a
vegetarian student will be allowed to leave the meat on the plate, and
consequently suffer from inadequate and imbalanced meals.

Following a law voted last year by the French Parliament(2), similar decrees
will be taken shortly regarding almost all forms of catering from
kindergarten to hospital, prisons and retirement homes. Vegetarianism will
then have effectively been banned for a large part of the population.
These measures ostensibly aim at ensuring the nutritional quality of the
meals. Animal flesh is imposed as the only source of good quality protein
and iron and dairy products as the only sources of calcium, in disregard of
the fact that all these nutrients can be obtained in adequate quantity and
quality from plant and mineral sources. The internationally recognized fact
that: appropriately planned vegetarian diets, including total vegetarian or
vegan diets, are healthful, nutritionally adequate, and may provide health
benefits in the prevention and treatment of certain diseases [and that]
well-planned vegetarian diets are appropriate for individuals during all
stages of the life cycle, including pregnancy, lactation, infancy,
childhood, and adolescence, and for athletes(3) is flatly ignored.

No practical considerations warrant a blanket prohibition of vegetarianism
even in those canteens where the management is willing to offer vegetarian
or vegan alternatives. These decrees are thus an arbitrary violation of the
rights of the vegetarian citizens of France.

The European Vegetarian Union wishes to point out that the decision that
many citizens have taken not to eat animals is not a mere dietary whim or a
nonconsequential choice of lifestyle, but follows, for many of them, from
deeply held beliefs about the way animals should be treated. A democratic
government cannot arbitrarily restrict the beliefs of its citizens nor the
practice thereof. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
which is binding on member states including France, holds that: Everyone has
the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This right
includes freedom to change religion or belief and freedom, either alone or
in community with others and in public or in private, to manifest religion
or belief, in worship, teaching, practice and observance.(4)
 
The public debate regarding animal rights and the moral status of animals is
active in France as in many other countries. Citizens are entitled to choose
freely where they stand on these issues, and those who believe that they
cannot, in conscience, accept to eat animals must not be discriminated
against.

A government cannot settle a philosophical, ethical and political debate by
restricting the rights of those who disagree with its own positions. For
years, the official policy of the French government has been openly hostile
to vegetarianism.(5) The French agriculture minister, Bruno Lemaire,
declared in January 2010 that the government's aim in determining its public
nutritional policy was to defend the French agricultural model and
specifically to counter initiatives such as those of Paul McCartney calling
for a reduced consumption of meat.(6)

The European Vegetarian Union demands that the recent governmental orders
outlawing vegetarianism in school canteens be rescinded and that the French
government respect the civil rights of its vegetarian citizens.

Renato Pichler
President of the European Vegetarian Union (EVU)
 
Footnotes:
1. Décret n° 2011-1227 du 30 septembre 2011; arrêté du 30 septembre 2011.
2. "Law for the modernization of agriculture and fisheries", published on
July 27, 2010.
3. Position statement of the American Dietetic Association
4. Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, article 10.1
5.An example is the site mangerbouger.fr, where the only nutritional advice
given to a teenager contemplating becoming a vegan is "By all means, do not
follow that diet!" (www.mangerbouger.fr/pro/IMG/pdf/guide_adolescents-2.pdf,
page 11).
6. http://tinyurl.com/FlashLeFigaro

European Vegetarian Union
Niederfeldstrasse 92, CH-8408 Winterthur
Fax: +41 (0)71 477 33 78
www.euroveg.eu / president@euroveg.eu
You can read this press release online at:
www.euroveg.eu/lang/en/news/press/20101014.php