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.
若意大利國會議員薩維諾的提案通過，堅持讓孩子吃純素的父母將面臨長達四年的監禁。

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黨議員薩維諾提出了一項法案，法案規定沒有為子女提供健康平衡膳食的父母將負法律責任。

"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.
在意大利眾議院提出該法案后，她于當地時間8月10日接受路透社記者電話采訪時表示：“我并不反對素食者及素食主義，只要這是成年人自己的選擇?！?/p>

"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.
她解釋：“我只是發現有些家長用近乎狂熱的傳教方式將自己的意愿強加給孩子，他們沒有聽從正確的科學指導，也沒有咨詢過醫生的建議，這著實荒謬可笑?！?/p>

"Do-it-yourself on these matters terrorizes me."
“他們的這種自以為是真是嚇到我了。”

Some pediatricians advise against feeding children on a vegan diet, which they say can lack sufficient nutrition.
一些兒科醫生提議反對讓孩子吃純素，因為只攝入素食會讓孩子缺乏足夠的營養。

Vegetarians do not eat meat, fish, or poultry and vegans also do not eat animal products such as eggs and dairy foods.
素食者們不吃肉、魚、禽類，而純素食者甚至不食用諸如雞蛋和奶制品等動物產品。

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.
薩維諾提出的法案規定，以純素食喂養孩子將面臨一年的監禁。如果孩子因此出現長期健康問題，父母要坐牢長達四年。如果孩子最終因此死亡，父母面臨的刑期則將長達七年。

It would apply to children under 16 and penalties would increase by a year if the child is under three.
該法案將適用于16歲以下兒童的父母，若孩子在三歲以下，刑期則再追加一年。

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歲的薩維諾是一個七歲男孩的母親，孩子吃肉并不多。最近在意大利發生的幾起令人震驚的吃素兒童事件讓她決定提出這一法案。

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.
上個月在意大利北部城市米蘭，一位到醫院看病的一歲男童體重只與三個月大的嬰兒相當，經醫生診斷這是由于父母只給他吃素食造成的。

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，在一位父親的申訴下，意大利一家法院下令要求一位單親母親停止強迫12歲的兒子吃純素，因為這影響了兒子的身體發育。

"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.
“就算只有一個孩子最后因為吃純素住進醫院，我們也有責任對所有的孩子進行保護。”薩維諾如是說道。她認為兒科醫生們注意到強迫孩子吃純素的虐待行為，他們有義務向當局通報這些作為純素者的父母。

The draft will be discussed by parliamentary committees before it goes to the floor for debate. That is expected this year.
該提案將在議會委員會討論后就其內容進行辯論，并有望于今年得出結果。

英文來源：路透社
翻譯：劉佳麗（中國日報網愛新聞iNews譯者）
編審：yaning