Denmark: Children's fasting 'neglect'

Denmark: Children's fasting 'neglect'

The integration spokesperson for the Conservatives, Naser Khader, attacked the Muslim Ramadan in a letter (PDF, DA) to the Council of Ethics. The Danish Council of Ethics advises the parliament about ethical problems relating to bio-medicine.

He asked the council to decide if it's ethical for children to fast. The practice is both 'neglect' and 'starvation', it says in the letter, which was written together with pediatrician Vibeke Manniche.


The council's chairman, Peder Agger, told Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten that he refused to handle the case.

"If we go into this field, regardless of what we think, they we could be accused or politicizing or of going outside our domain," he said.

Naser Khader is surprised about the refusal, since the council previously considered religious circumcision of girls and boys.

Khader, who was a member of the Council of Ethics years ago, says that he sees that as reluctance to deal with the issue.

Source: Jyllands-Posten (Danish)