BIRDS AND THE BEES



A number of studies have shown that plants feel pain, and vegetables are picked and often eaten while still alive. Animal rights activists are often in the news, but has anyone ever protested for vegetable rights? Phil Cohen, Sydney, Australia This must be a spoof question. The comment "and often eaten while still alive" raises the question when do vegetables die? two minutes, ten minutes, two hours after being pulled from the ground??? Farmers often allow sheep to graze on mangolds and cabbages still growing in the fields. Plants begin to wilt the moment that their link with a supply of moisture is severed, so the fresher they are the better the taste and nutritional value. Perhaps that Guru of plants, HRH Prince Charles, should be consulted. Jack Hill, St Albans, England As far as I know no reputable study has ever shown that plants can "feel pain". They lack the nervous system and brain necessary for this to happen. A plant can respond to stimuli, for example by turning towards the light or closing over a fly, but that is not the same thing. It is also hard to see what purpose pain could serve for the plant, since they can hardly run away. I am aware however that similar arguments were put up in the past in favour of animals not feeling pain! Supposing you decide that it is cruel to eat plants, since they are alive and presumably have sensations of some sort, what are you going to eat? Not a lot left on the menu if meat, and veg are removed, is there? If it is alright so long as you "kill" them first, how is this to be done? Is boiling them alive acceptable? Perhaps it is alright to eat fruit, since the plant sheds these of its own accord, but seeds and nuts are out as they are embryos ! Susan Deal, Sheffield, UK Neil, the hippy in the Young Ones, is introduced to viewers by Griff Rhys Jones (as 'Bambi' Gascoigne) and says 'vegetable rights and peace!' to camera. Max Wurr, Stanmore, United Kingdom I suspect there have been as many protests for vegetable rights as there have been reputable studies that have shown that plants feel pain. I've never heard of either. Michael Fisher, Brisbane, Australia The Vegetable Rights Militant Movement has a website at vegetablecruelty.com. Its current campaign protests that oil is kinder than ethanol. What it apparently fails to realize, however, is that oil derives from the corpses of billions of long dead plants, many of them long extinct. While using oil for fuel may save corn and sugarcane in the short run, it only encourages the exploitation of plants in the hope that they will die, decay, and eventually produce more hydrocarbon-based fuels. The coal and petroleum industries rely on humans' short memories, smugly confident that few of us will remember the Rhacopteris ovata and the Lepidodendron that gave their lives hundreds of millions of years ago to fuel our internal combustion engines. Oil is murder. Diamonds, too. Bill Dunlap, Hamden, Connecticut, USA Some fruitarians will only eat fruit, nuts and seeds that have fallen naturally from the plant, ie. not been picked or cut. They are often motivated by a desire to avoid killing in all forms - I'm not sure that they believe that vegetables feel pain, however! Amy, Feather UK It seems none of you understand the definition of "pain." Pain is defined as a signal of present or impending tissue damage affected by a harmful stimulus, and thus is experienced by almost all multicellular organisms. The question isn't whether or not plants feel pain, the question is why is it okay to cause pain to plants but not animals? Keep in mind not all plants react to pain in the same way. Not all animals feel pain the same way (e.g. lobsters). This is part of a much more complex argument. We need to ask some tough questions. Is it wrong to harm people? Do plants and animals have the same rights as people (to be free from harm)? Do they have any rights at all? What kind of diet is within our nature and why should we second-guess doing what is natural? Good luck. Randall, Cleveland US I was a vegetarian on and off growing up, and I'm now a srtict vegan. I struggle daily with whether I should sacrifice the life of a plant to eat, when I can find the same nutrition from a fruit (if you research fruit nutrition many people survive more than happy healthy lives). I adore my garden and house plants and know what they need to be happy/healthy, and so when it comes to eating one I can't help but think twice. Fruit seems to be given to us by the plants, bushes and trees they come from, they want to provide for us the best they have offer so that we will spread their seed. COHABITATION! Name another life form that WANTS to feed us?. The very fact that in the first stagest of life on Earth, everything was evolving from plants (making them our orignal ansestors), I think should help us in giving them the respect they deserve.... AnnMichelle, Wirral uk We are made in God's image. He gave us the animals and the plants for our use. We are born into this world to eat meat and plants. If we were not meant to eat meat, we would only eat plants like some of the Dinosaurs who ate only plants and not meat. Just like the Dinosaurs who ate meat and no plants. And others Dinosaurs who ate both. We were born to do both. Our teeth tells us that is what they were made to do. Look at the teeth of planteaters and the teeth of meat eaters. They were made just for that. That is why God put both plants and meat for us to eat. We are what we are suppose to be. For that is what God and nature wanted! Lawrence Gagnon, Waterville USA For plants to feel pain, they need a nervous system and a brain. And one person cited vegetablecruelty.com as a source that plants feel pain. I went on that site and it is obviously a joke. Anonymous, Gaithersburg, USA If you read, the book of Genesis, Ch. No. 9, Verse No. 2 and 3, it says that 'They will fear you, they will dread you - all creatures of the earth, all fouls in the sky, all creatures that liveth on the earth, as well as all the fishes in the sea, they shall be delivered to you. Next Verse Genesis, Ch. 9, Verse 3 says that Every creature that moveth on land, and is a living creature - they are meat unto you, and also herbs and shrubs. Mentioned in the book of Deuteronomy, Ch. No. 14, Verse No. 9, that Ye shall have the meat of all the things in the water - All that have fins and scales, you shall eat - Deuteronomy, Ch. No. 14, Verse No. 11, says that You shall have the lawful meat of the birds. Deuteronomy Ch. No. 14, Verse No. 20 says that Ye shall eat the meat of the lawful fowls - It is allowed. Further if you read, it is mentioned in the book of Hebrews, Ch. No. 5, Verse No. 13 and 14 that If you have Milk, you are weak - if you have strong meat, you are powerful in reasoning - Bible says that not I. In the Gospel of Luke, Ch. No. 24 only quotations Verse No. 41 to 43 Jesus Christ (peace be upon him), goes in the upper room and he says Have you any meat to eat?- And the disciples gave him a piece of broiled fish and honey comb fish - and he ate before them. Jesus Christ (peace be upon him) - in the book of Romans, Ch. No. 14, Verse No. 2 and 3, it says that One who believth in eating all things, he can eat - those who are weak, they only eat herbs and shrubs - but anyone who eateth, should not insult those who eateth not - and those who eateth not, should not judge those who eateth - This is law of God. Green, Mumbai India There is an entire religion based upon this awareness, called Jainism, from India. Also, this is why everyone gives thanks to the life that lent itself to us so that we may sustain our own lives. There is no wrong or right, it simply depends upon your own relationship to the life on this planet. Each person is born with different things to accomplish while they are here, and we eat - with gratitude - for whatever supports our completion of those accomplishments. Gratitude and respect for the life support is what is fundamental. elarael, Haiku USA What, now we can't eat PLANTS? You've got to be kidding me. Humans shouldn't abandon predation just because we have morals. Humans are not the only creatures on earth that prey on other creatures. Jack, San Jose, USA I think it's a little rediculous that there are vegetable rights, plus, if you put it in animal terms, aren't most of the cells in animals still alive when you eat them, plants are made out of cells too. Noah Shields , Fort Collins, US First of all, if you want to be religious about this think about how god gave humans free will, so we could make decisions about things. We can decide that we don't have to eat meat, and we can decide we aren't meant to eat meat,and we can decide to not practice everything in the bible. So don't justify it just because the bible, says to take the life of something else so you can eat it when there are other options to like eating plants. If you believe it's o.k. to eat meat then please do it in a matter that is respectful. SO many animals suffer being stuffed into small spaces, being crippled in transportation and overfeeding, if you are going to eat an animal at least give it the respect that it is a living being not just a product. Treat it like it's alive when its alive! And it doesn't say anywhere that you have to eat meat at every meal. You can easily reduce your meat intake to help the earth in the long run. Cows are being breed so that there are so many of them that the methane gas that cows produce in their poop contribute to global warming greatly. Everything in the process of producing a meat product takes up so many essential resources that we need like the water they drink(which is a lot for cows), the space where the animals are kept, the food they eat(again is a lot to get them big), the gas in the factories and in the transportation. At the very least be aware of everything you eat and where you get it to make sure that the companies that produce it are aware and care about the animals as beings because everyone of your dollars are a vote. If the meat is cheap then they usually don't take the time to make sure that the animals are treated like animals and there wastes are being taken care of properly.The big corporations just do it for the money and just treat them like a product. They pack them full of antibiotics so that they don't get diseases that they are exposed to from being stored in small spaces packed with poop and all of those antibiotics, you are ingesting when you eat meat. Grass fed humanely treated animals are the best. Do your own research and just don't be ignorant because ignorance kills. Bella, SC USA First of all, if you want to be religious about this think about how god gave humans free will, so we could make decisions about things. We can decide that we don't have to eat meat, and we can decide we aren't meant to eat meat,and we can decide to not practice everything in the bible. So don't justify it just because the bible, says to take the life of something else so you can eat it when there are other options to like eating plants. If you believe it's o.k. to eat meat then please do it in a matter that is respectful. SO many animals suffer being stuffed into small spaces, being crippled in transportation and overfeeding, if you are going to eat an animal at least give it the respect that it is a living being not just a product. Treat it like it's alive when its alive! And it doesn't say anywhere that you have to eat meat at every meal. You can easily reduce your meat intake to help the earth in the long run. Cows are being breed so that there are so many of them that the methane gas that cows produce in their poop contribute to global warming greatly. Everything in the process of producing a meat product takes up so many essential resources that we need like the water they drink(which is a lot for cows), the space where the animals are kept, the food they eat(again is a lot to get them big), the gas in the factories and in the transportation. At the very least be aware of everything you eat and where you get it to make sure that the companies that produce it are aware and care about the animals as beings because everyone of your dollars are a vote. If the meat is cheap then they usually don't take the time to make sure that the animals are treated like animals and there wastes are being taken care of properly.The big corporations just do it for the money and just treat them like a product. They pack them full of antibiotics so that they don't get diseases that they are exposed to from being stored in small spaces packed with poop and all of those antibiotics, you are ingesting when you eat meat. Grass fed humanely treated animals are the best. Do your own research and just don't be ignorant because ignorance kills. I don't believe that plants feel pain because they do not have a nervous system and they don't have the neurons to carry pain signals. Bella, SC USA Just for those religious people out there who seemed to have forgotten. In the beginning, when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, they did not eat meat, for the lion would lay with the sheep and the man could approach the lion. There was no killing, until they disobeyed God and the Lion turned on the man and suffering came to be. God said that when the end came and people were judged, those who were good would go to heaven, or a paradise land where again, man could approach the lion in a friendly manner, and the lion would lay next to the sheep in peace once again. So for you to say God gave us animals for the benefit of eating is absolute BS. According to all the Abrahamic teachings, eating the flesh of another living creature is part of the punishment bestowed upon man for disobeying God, seeing as eating meat was not done in the Garden of Eden, making it a part of the devils world, not God's. I am not a religious person at all, but I was brought up in a religious home and taught the teachings and it seems to me as though people who try to use the "God gave us animals for the purpose of eating them" argument, leave out the bit of important information that clearly states that animals were originally made by God for man as companions. They seek to use the "God made animals for eating" argument to justify the cruelty inflicted on animals for our own selfish desires. And the contradictions of religion continues. Kayla Soliman, United States Meat is only second-hand plants. Period. Bandana , Kathmandu, Nepal Plants without a nervous system feel nothing. You need a nervous system and a brain. EarthTongue, Chesapeake, US Having 'rights' is entirely a human mental construction. In the real world, 'rights' do not exist. The dictionary definition of nature says something along the lines of anything of the world not created by humans. I propose that that definition needs to be re-clarified to include all elements of the complete symbiotic whole if we are to realise who we really are, and how much we owe to all things currently and previously existing. We are not special. We may be improbable or inevitable, but only religion and our irrational brains think of ourselves as special and somehow apart from all that actually (truthfully) created us in the first place,Nature. All things react to their environment. Humans evolved along with everything else. Human thoughts and morals, while having evolved with everything else and indeed in a symbiotic reactive way to the environment they were brought up in, have actually no basis in the physical real world. They are fictitious and at times, often completely irrational. Whether anything feels pain or not is not an issue. It is only an issue when one starts being irrational and enters into fictitious moral judgements and 'separate from nature', 'holier than thou', 'special beings' head-spaces (which of course, we all tend to do). Doesn't make us 'right'... Pain, while uncomfortable for whatever is experiencing it, is not inherently 'wrong'. It's just another important evolutionary way of surviving for creatures. There is no winner. There is no creature that is meant to live, meant to be extinct, meant to have dominion over all, meant to care, meant to DO ANYTHING AT ALL. All this said, I humbly and rationally believe that no thing, living or not, has 'rights' of any kind. There is only action and reaction with the first action a mere reaction to the preceding reaction etc. It is a symbiotic environment we live in. An ever updating, logical and un-biased to any form of life or un-life, use of the scientific method would be, in my opinion, (which matters not), the most effective way for us humans to co-exist with these silly large brains of ours and the entirety of all that is. No religion. No money. No 'rights'. No moral dilemmas. No government. No laws but what are actual real (scientific) laws of the universe. However, I am a silly human, with a silly brain. My opinion, and your opinion, matter not and matter not absolutely. There is only what is. Cause and effect. Reaction and reaction and reaction and reaction. In other words: There is no 'true' answer. Because there is no 'true' question. Rant over. :-) Joe Manton, Hornsby, Australia The gentleman who indicated that diamonds are, murdered plants, is right - the diamond is actually a casket...I wonder if the daffodils formed a New Orleans jazz band for each diamond and march around it? I wonder when they would determine the appropriate time to begin the ceremony? During the diamond formation process or at it's conclusion? Is it appropriate to send flowers? To whom, where? Bill Kolb, Sacramento, US If plants do indeed feel pain, then it's still better to be vegan since you're only causing plants pain. To eat meat, you cause the animals to feel pain plus all the plants that the animal ate in its lifetime. Joshua Matthews, Stoke-on-Trent, UK Plants suffer a massive hormone and chemical barrage internally when they suffer any kind of injury, Which is very similar to an animal but it is so much slower that most think they do not feel anything. David , Tampa fl USA Studies have shown that organs other than the brain can affect our thinking processes. Just because plants feel things differently from us doesn't mean they don't feel at all. Helen, Brisbane Australia Agree with so many posts But I feel that ultimately suffering is a fundamental dilemma for all life, and all living things experience it in different ways. Scientifically we are still infants, lets not forget that, so to rule out the possibility of plants registering pain via other sensory organs because they do not posses a brain or central nervous system, would be an ignorant statement to make. Unfortunately, all life is formed and sustained by the matter of other life forms, whether decomposing or still living. The earth is a closed system, meaning every living thing is recycled, and everything consumed by one living thing has come from the decomposition or sacrifice of another living thing. The other unfortunate thing about this whole debate is that us humans all have to make up our own minds, and most will not have that nagging urge to feel utter compassion at even just the thought of a plant being eaten alive :( Julia, Australia Plants do not feel pain because they don't have a brain for any signals to be sent to. Imagine if a human didn't have a brain; they could get cut, but they wouldn't know and there wouldn't be anything to tell that they are in pain...so technically they would not be in pain. Same for plants. Mae, Sacramento US I'm getting a bit sick of this. I've read half a dozen replies already and none of them addresses the question. Can somebody please just tell me whether or not plants feel pain? We've been around for thousands of years, studying. There are billions of us, experiencing. Surely one among us can please just offer up a straight answer. Geoff walker, Katoomba Australia Yes, we are given all living things to eat-both plants and animals. No, we are not given these things to torture in the process. Shane, MN USA To all those who are saying religion don't allow us to eat meat I answer: Jesus ate fish!!!! Anonymous, Beirut Lebanon The business of poultry farms is a huge one all over the world. Billions of chicken are fertilized artificially so that they give birth to other chickens which can then be eaten. But if they were to give birth naturally, a lot of veg on which they feed would be left, enough to feed the entire world. It is the non veg eaters who are indirectly the cause of world hunger. Please refer to the website goveg.com for more information. Avijit Sawroop, Lucknow India Plants don't feel pain would be my response. There has been no study that I know of that shows plants suffer pain. There has been lots of research on that they touch, can understand light rays, that they react to minerals in the soil and the roots tend to grow towards more mineralised soil. But there is no evidence that they would suffer from pain. People suffer from pain because they intellectualize the pain. As in there brain and nervous system works out they are in pain and this is how you become aware of pain and are conscious of pain, without consciousness you can not suffer from pain, you can't say pain is in my leg or if you was a animal make noises and lie in mud or whatever to stop the pain. Plus Vegetables and Plants lack a nervous system, so even if they were somehow conscious, there would be no afferent neurons to carry pain messages. At this point in time science shows no evidence that plants suffer from pain. There is some evidence they react to being cut, but this is a basic stimulus response that is similar to how they react to sun light. It's not painful for them, it's just like a mobile phone that flashed low battery. I believe this is a poke at vegetarians and vegans who eat plants. This aims to put them off going vegetarian because all life feels pain so you can't avoid hurting life. However this is a naive point as the point is we don't need to eat animals that we KNOW feel pain at a lot higher level emotionally and physically than plants. Second we don't need to eat animals but we do plants, Or at least I have seen no evidence to show we can have optimum health on a fruit, seed and nut diet alone. Where as we can on a plant based diet which means we don't need to harm animals to live and since they feel high amounts of emotional pain it would be silly to ignore this. However there is lots of studies that show eating meat, dairy and eggs is unhealthy. There is lots of evidence that shows a lot of factory farms cause deceases and deforestation. The point is you don't need to eat animals or animal products to live, but you do need to have a plant based diet. Nutritionfacts.org shows many health studies based on clinical studies done on people. In addition, fruit doesn't feel pain and you can eat plenty of that if eating plants is problem for you. Even though plants probable don't feel pain and most defiantly don't suffer from pain signals. This would just be as healthy as eating a meat based diet so there is no reason to eat meat. There is no ethical reason to eat meat. Ethically it is wrong to eat meat. But that never stopped people before. Stephen Kelly, Oakworth, England The simplest piece of evidence that plants don't feel pain is their evolution. Animals feel pain because it gives them sense of what's dangerous and when they should run. Plants on the other hand can't move, can fight back physically and would have no evolutionary reason to feel pain. Furthermore some plants actually rely on being eaten to spread their seeds. John Renszi, Sacremento, United States Those of you saying plants have no reason to feel pain evolutionarily because they can't run away are overlooking the important fact that plants do respond rapidly to being injured or threatened, albeit in way that are usually difficult for us to detect. As soon as injury occurs, chemicals are released that "warn" other nearby plants to bolster their defenses (this is especially useful if the assailant is an insect or other small pest -- some plants even release chemicals that attract other insects that eat the attackers!) Plants react to tactile sensations in general -- gently stroking a stem each day will cause it to grow thicker (probably because it is responding to what it thinks is heavy wind.) So while I'm not sure it means they can feel pain per se, plants definitely have good reason to detect and react to physical "sensation" including injury -- and they do. AJ, US DALLAS--Research scientists at Baylor Medical Center have proven that plants, including vegetables, feel pain when subjected to trauma such as being yanked out of the ground, peeled, cooked, and eaten. "Veggies and plants initiate a massive hormone and chemical barrage internally when they suffer any kind of injury," says professor Barry Lindzer. "This response is akin to the nerve response and endorphin release when an animal is injured. We cannot ignore the similarities." Jose, Boca Raton USA "There are no neurons in plants, but there is a communication network that we don't fully understand." - William John Lucas, professor of plant biology at UC-Davis. No neurons probably means no pain, at least not the way humans perceive it. If you try googling Professor Barry Lindzer and the Baylor Medical Center, it seems there might not be a Barry Lindzer at the Baylor Medical Center. Hmm. As many have pointed out, the ability to suffer pain and not be able to evade the source of that pain is not the kind of mistake Mother Nature would make. Mike , Toronto Canada How about you just eat what feels right to you. Hans, Sonoma U.S.A. Though I believe plants to experience 'something' when they have parts severed from them, but it is impossible to live without consuming some form of sustenance. Whether animal or vegetable, humans must consume something to survive. Any rights that any living thing may or may not have is revoked upon the death of said living thing. Prof. Rockhill, Grifton United States Try your best to inflict as little harm as possible to all living things. However we must also understand that for the sake of survival, it is inevitable that we will need to hurt/harm certain living things. The goal should be striving to minimise the harm we bring upon other living things. Do not bring unnecessary harm to others while we fight to survive. With religions put aside, the first and most important goal in life is to survive, this is a universal goal that applies to all living things. All living things (man,animals,plants, micro-organism, fungi, ......), we all live in the same planet, the main goal is to survive. For the survival of one living thing, it is inevitable that some harm will done on others. All that we can do is to minimise our harm on other living things in our pursuit of survival. If living things are not allowed to inflict harm on other living things, then most or all living things should not be living on this Earth. We are all part of the billions of living things that strive to survive on this Earth. We are just a part of the whole system, there is actually no right or wrong, it is just a matter of decision, what you think/feel is right, what do you think is best for you, your kind or your world. There is no right or wrong, all we can do is try to get as close as possible to the perfect answer which we can never know. There may not even be an answer to anything. Just a piece of mind from an individual who have yet to find and may never find the answer. Mrs Universal, Chaozhou China Technically speaking, the cells of the entire plant have chemicals synonymous with a brain, furthermore, one can trace the electrical impulses within a given plant and learn that there are, at the very least, basic emotional instances. Plants can be conditioned to lower defensive mechanisms like spines, to grow a certain way, and display an evolutionary ingenuity that may be beyond even our comprehension. From a purely scientific standpoint, our long disrespected ancestors are geniuses and to say they don't think is to ignore the extent they go to form symbiotic(and parasitic) relationships and the subtle mourning responses to the deaths of caretakers and neighboring plants. HOWEVER, vegetables, grains, and nuts are too small to be sufficiently intelligent to suffer enough for it to be called inhumane. I believe that they should be given the same level of respect as their animal counterparts. Give a dandelion the respect you'd give an invasive rodent, and crops the same respect as livestock. Even if the activists are wrong and plants don't feel, we should leave nothing to chance. Even if the research is false and that tree in your back yard IS just be a hunk of cells, leave nothing to chance, because for all we know they're sentient beings that desire positive social interactions. Rayblon, Naperville USA Yes, because tests have been made and it has been proven that as soon as a plant is harvested it hurts the plant and the plant begins to wither. tom , birmingham uk After years of struggling with the decision and one or two failed attempts, this year I finally committed to becoming a vegetarian. Not a full vegan because there are so many products that use animal by-products, it seems virtually impossible to avoid them all and still have any type of existence other than the stereotypical "hippie" label would suggest. But my changeover has been a transitional one. No chicken, beef or pork...that was easy, but now I am thinking I need to eliminate fish and shrimp as well. Cheese has been a struggle since most cheeses use an enzyme made from the stomach lining of slaughtered calves, so I am still searching for a veggie cheese I can consistently find in the area where I live. Plants feeling pain is such a gray area that I have to side with people who say "if you rule out meat AND veggies...that only leaves fruit because it is given to us by Nature herself without the need for harvesting." However, I am a diabetic, so a fruit only diet is out of the question...even natural sugars are too much sugar in my case. So I struggle to find a balance between nutritional requirements vs. ethical considerations vs. culinary desires, but I'm working on it and hopefully making good choices. As for the "GOD" argument that so many people use to defend killing animals and eating meat, there is no scientific data to back up that GOD even exists, so that argument is a moot point and has no place in this debate. I'm not an atheist or an agnostic, but there are MANY things that I don't agree with GOD about, so don't try to sell me with any GOD rhetoric because it has no substance or fact base to it. GOD also gave us the choice to be murderers and child molestors...he says it's wrong, but he still gave us the power of free will to engage in those types of behaviors, so does that justify them? Personally, I would say no...but then again, I'm not a hater like some of the God-ites I've met from time to time. I'm a student of science and history and God and his demented minions here on earth have wreaked more havoc on the world than any other belief system out there, so let's just drop the "God gave us choices" arguments altogether and just focus on the facts and the ethical considerations. Phil, Jackson USA Others have talked about eating seed that has fallen naturally from the plant. They believe that by doing so they ain't killing or causing pain to anything. They have forgotten that the fruit contain seeds that are living and meant to reproduce..... and they cause so much pain to these seeds by crushing them Stanford Muyila, Lilongwe Malawi Well, we cant say that they dont feel any pain cause as any other cell they consist of nucleous i.e. also known as the brain of the cell. And if we take an example of amoeba we can definitely prove that its a single cell organism and carries out every process of a human body from locomotion to the process of eating food so it is pretty much possible that every cell wether a plant cell or animal or any single cell organisms feel pain. Not sure about viruses cause they have very less biological parts of their own. anshuman, delhi india There is no need for proof or a study. Use your logic, plants feel pain because they are alive in order for them to bring new life to this world.Can a dead human bring a baby to life? No. Why when a vegetable is wounded does it start to decompose? When you kill an animal or a human same thing happens,decomposition. To live means something has to die as it is the law of nature. The point is to respect and treat with care anything that serves your survival in order for you to exist whatever that might be but the most basic of all is to be always balanced because healthy or not if you eat only one thing without variety(even organic vegetables etc) problems will occur if you over do it. Psychology is also another part of our health. Enough said ;) Bamagiotis, Athens Greece I am just wondering if it is more cruel to eat something that doesn't have the means to show pain? Then again, if we don't eat plants, what else can we consume to ensure our survival? Eating in abundance is what many are doing now. Worse, they kill animals and waste the meat later. It's cruel to eat animals. I believe plants have their own life too. Anything that has a life surely has a means to feel. Maybe we haven't realize the science and system behind this new perspective, but I think we are facing great dilemma about plants. No meat, no veg, guess the only thing left to consume is air. Sharing some thoughts here. Cheers... Karen Fu, Singapore First of all, please get your facts right. Saying that plants feel pain is still being debated, but I will give you the benefit of doubt. But to say that Vegetables and Fruits are eaten alive, is really stupid. It is like saying that the Barber killed my hair while it was still alive. Firstly, fruits and vegetables are the waste treatment system of plants and trees. So to say that they are "alive" is pushing it too much. K Bharani Nath, Bangalore India No, plants cannot feel pain. There is no possible way for that to happen without a central nervous system. Yuri Potekhin, St. Petersburg, Russia Although I regard the argument that plants feel pain as being little more than wishful thinking on the part of meat-eaters, even if it was true people forget that because of all the plants fed to livestock meat-eaters cause more plants to be destroyed than vegetarians. In his book "Animal Liberation" Peter Singer claims that meat eaters are indirectly responsible for destroying 10 times as many plants as vegetarians. eric bahrt, pattaya thAILAND Well while I'm glad everyone here is an exact expert on all forms of life, I would have to ask people to consider, plants can respond to touch, there are carnivorous plants, does this go to prove that perhaps communication can exist within a plant on a chemical level, even without an "electrical CNS". Who's to say they have no concept of pain on a chemical level, have there been any studies into the chemical responses of plants to damage? They certainly have one. Stormageddom, Cincinati USA It is not about whether they actually feel pain or not. If I, as a human being, had a neurosystem disorder that would make me feel no pain at all, would it be all right to peel off my skin while I was alive? Like we do with potatoes. Of course not! So it is not an excuse to abuse vegetables just because they do not feel pain. They are all alive just like the rest of us. And if we approach it from the atheist way, plants and animals have the same amount of soul like us - zero. Or if we are Buddhists, we can assume that they too, have a soul. On the other hand, plants themselves consume other plants and animals too. Animals consume plants and other animals, and sometimes even people. It is the permanent law of nature and it is above any religion or ethics or made up stuff. Eat what your body desires, that is how it is meant to be. Levente Bolyos, Budapest, Hungary If eating animals is OK then you should not cry when someone eats your babies. God did not give plants to run away to protect themselves. This means plants are basically for eating. Most of the plant based food do not need killing the plant, only cut some part of it. The tree again grow similar parts. Also the intestine of carnivorous is very small compared to herbivorous (similar to humans). How come man is made to eat both the things? santosh, mumbai india Keep eating meat, my friends. However, I'm a vegetarian and haven't been sick in 5 years. Prior to that, I was sick all the time. A connection? Definitely, because it's the only thing I changed. ;) R, winter haven USA Yes they feel pain, but humans cannot relate. Judy Lakkis, Thousand Oaks, US Hello all. My two cents on this topic is - Not if Plants feel pain or not. That whole idea has to do with what we personally feel. Plants are simply a living organism - that I'm sure we can all agree on. And if a plant is torn or ripped from its source of life then it is being killed. Life No More. I say, ok eat vegetables but don't lie about not having eaten and killed in the process, something once living. This is coming from a vegeterian. And I admit I eat living things called plants. I have thought this through for myself and have come to that conclusion. Who or anyone of us decides what is or isn't edible in regards to life as we know it. Thats pretentious BS. When the fact is that all living things as we know life to be - feed on other living things. From the smallest microbe to the largest animal, plant etc. The "pain" thing has to do more with our relation or not to life around us. Ask Native Americans - they honor what they kill and feel no guilt because they understand this. That's all ill say - be Easy, Peace, Love and Hairgreese!! Pancho Diggz, New York City USA I am a vegetarian, I eat plants for something has to be eaten. I am sure, that plants feel pain, why should they not feel pain? They feel the sunlight, wind, they feel when they are touched (and react - mimose), even the seed knows where to grow, where the sunlight is, plants knows the long of the daylight, the season etc. So why pain should not be felt. Of course (still) we have to kill plants for eating, but we should kill and cause pain, suffering only as much as necesary, not for pleasure. It is suffering for a plant to be kept as a bonsai, it is very painful for a tree or the grass to be cut. If we have to do this, than it should not be done with damil, what makes big wounds, it's better to use sharp blades. Another cruel thing is, when after one's collecting the fruits of the plant (peas, beanes), we kill the still living plant and put it out from the soil, not waiting for it to die a natural death. (And it would bloom and give its fruits several more times). We should think of plant as living beings, that feel pain and discomfort and act according to this. Chana Abraham, Tel Aviv Israel



Add your answer













