Italian MP aims to jail parents of vegan children

Parents who insist that their children follow a vegan diet could face a jail sentence of up to four years under draft laws proposed by an Italian MP.

Elvira Savino has introduced legislation that would would hold parents legally responsible for feeding their children on "a diet devoid of elements essential for healthy and balanced growth".

The MP, from the conservative Forza Italia party, has said that veganism is perfectly acceptable as a "free choice for adults" but it is not acceptable to impose it on children.

Her draft 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.

It would apply to children under 16 and penalties would increase by a year if the child is under three. The draft will be discussed by parliamentary committees before it goes to the floor for debate.

Savino, 39, who has a seven-year-old son and who says she eats meat "but not too much", said she proposed the law after being shocked by several recent incidents in Italy.

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.