Geez, this is just going to influence the “but plants have feelings and you eat them” crowd. *sigh*
From Treehugger:
What does wheat want? That’s a question scientists in Switzerland have to ponder now that the country is mandating that geneticists conduct their experiments with consideration to a plant’s feelings, according to The Washington Post…
In order to obtain government permission to do a field trial of genetically modified, fungus-resistant wheat, [Beat] Keller had to spar with university ethicists over wheter his experiment would impugn upon the plants’ dignity and then explain in a written application to the government why his experiment wouldn’t “disturb the vital functions of lifestyle” of the plant.
Wow. Usually I love Switzerland and their quite liberal government, but this goes a bit too far. I’m not an expert on plants, so I can’t 100% promise that plants don’t have feelings. It just seems really, really unlikely. No central nervous system, no brain or brain-like organ.
What do you think? Should this new Swiss law be extended, or are they taking it too far?
Ahimsa 
October 17, 2008 at 5:40 pm
Well, even if plants feel, given that the process of turning plant matter into flesh protein necessarily involves the funneling of plants through animals, no matter what form the calculation takes, less suffering is experienced when we eat the plant matter directly. Also, considering the wealth of scientific evidence, the only sound assumption that can be deduced is that plants, in fact, are not sentient.
November 15, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Clearly if experimentation causes trauma then farming too must be traumatic. The plants are grown tightly clustered outside of their natural conditions, and the processing of the fruit/vegetables… truly horrific. They’re stored in immobilizing conditions often without adequate ventilation for months on end often until they submit to disease and are discarded. And the barbarians eat their fruits/vegetables alive (if they aren’t cooked the cells do still function)! Taken to its logical conclusion such a law implies that the Swedish must abandon agriculture and return to a hunter/gatherer society.
In reality I think this is a move directly intended to reduce GMO plant research. Green Peace was probably a big part of the lobby for this law. Those poor scientists are probably suffering red tape poisoning by now.
November 29, 2008 at 2:14 am
In the highest consideration it’s not about if plants have feelings or are sentient, it’s about their dignity as self-existent living entities.
But most of what Bob said on November 15, 2008 is correct except that the logical conclusion is not return to gatherer/scavenger society (mistakenly thought of as “hunter/gatherer”). The highest logical conclusion is to not eat more than required.
November 30, 2008 at 6:13 pm
…Sweden != Switzerland? Or am I missing the obvious?