Imagine you put something in your mouth that is still breathing, still feeling pain and still communicating this pain to others.
That happens if you eat a freshly picked salad or carrot.
For a long time vegetarians could present themselves as morally superior, because people believed that plants cannot feel pain. But science has shown that plants can indeed feel pain – and even communicate this to other plants!
For example some trees, when attacked by bark beetles, emit a pheromone-like substance. Other trees that inhale that pheromone start to produce more anti-beetle substances.
Plants can also make risk assessments that should only be possible with logical thinking. They can change behavior based on experience and have memories.
But the most astounding fact may be that plants can lose consciousness – or at least what we would call consciousness in humans.
It is still largely a mystery how anesthetics work in humans, but tests have shown that they also work in plants.
Under anesthetics, the physical properties of cell membranes change, becoming more flexible. Apply pressure to the cells, this effect is reversed and the anesthetic wears off. This suggests that something simple, like what is physically happening to a cell’s membrane, may be the common denominator explaining anesthetics’ effects across the plant and animal kingdoms, Dr. Baluska and colleagues suggest.
Sorry for starting this post with the “vegetarian attack”. But I guess it lured a lot of readers in.
I did not want to talk about vegetarianism, but purely about the amazing abilities that plants have and we did not know about just a few decades ago. Can plants dream of green sheep?
Still, those researches cast a shadow on the vegetarian ideal. I wonder what effect that will have? Will we have to – like for animals – anesthetize plants before harvesting them?
Whatever that will lead to, I will now go and eat a nice steak. At least that will not be still breathing and screaming in my mouth.
As far as we know today, that is...
Carrots are my favorite vegetables that have vitamins and calcium for the health of the body.
extraordinary.
Vegetarians are also responsible for killing a lot of insects and worms. Most meat eaters probably kill more animals, unless they hunt and kill their own food.
If you drive a car you are killing more animals then when you eat.
I never understand why vegans refuse to use wool (part of an animal that grows back, and in case of modern sheeps has to be sheered or the sheep die eventually) but happily burn fossil fuel in their car (the whole animal), when they do not want to use animal products.
There was a great coast to coast episode some years ago that dealt with talking about the science Behind this- it was interesting I would like to here more about the research! I guess being a fruit and nut atarian is the real way to go! (Eating what the plants and animals want others to eat to spread the seeds!)
Plants feel pain, possibly. The lesson here is its impossible to live without consuming other living things. While I dont condemn vegitarians or vegans (people must do what they feel is right), eating meat is not automatically wrong. If the animals are well looked after, have a natural environment to live in and are killed in a humane way, then there is no issue with meat eating.
If this process is followed for all meat production, then meat will become significantly more expensive, and fulfill a smaller proportion of our diets, which for most people would improve their health.
Trees also feel pain like human. Thanks for posting this article.
Love your posts. You should have more followers. 😊