Do Plants feel pain?

Question

Is it immoral for us to eat vegetables and fruit? Does it "hurt" when we harvest plant products? Is there a way to eat without causing plants pain and misery?

Thank you for the good answers. i think I am going to research diets that mainly involve fungi vs plants for the least amont of pain that I can cause to the world. I hope more vegans will unite with me under this cause. Besides, if we talk to our plants and they grow better doesn't thatmean they have some sort of a central nervous system?

Answer 1

Of course they do. What are the vegetarians going to eat now!!

Answer 2

Know what? I felt an intense pain when I accidentally deleted my lengthy answer to your question.

I just feel like screaming.

But, my urge to share is much more intense than my frustration at what happened. So, I'll try to recall what I wrote. Oh my God. Please give me the grace of patience.)

Vegetables and fruits help humans in their health needs.

Do plants feel pain? I still have to find any scientific evidence that they do feel pain. What I know is that whenever my imagination works overtime, I FEEL PAIN when I cut a flower's stem, pull some weeds or even boil some plants which have medicinal atributes. What do I do? I usually apologize before doing something to them. I also thank them for their help.

They are part of the Creation, aren't they? Brother sun, sister moon ...

Plants have their uses. There are medicinal plants and there are also toxic plants.

They can either help or harm us!

In our place, we have identified a plan (classified as the lowly weeds) that can cure dengue fever (wash and boil the plant, then cool the boiled water and use it as drinking water for the patient). The sap of this plant is also known to cure sore eyes, nightblindness and when used regularly, can even remove cataract. We still do not know the scientific name of the plant but it is considered a public knowledge now in our place.

Most of our drugs which are used to cure diseases are derived from plants aren't they? So let the "immoral issue" rest.

The marijuana derived drug can suppress bladder pain.

Remember however that there are plants that can CAUSE PAIN. These are the toxic plants like those containing oxalate-crystals. When the leaves are chewed, it can cause intense mouth pain and irritation.

Some plants are poisonous and can be very dangerous.

So back to the vegetables and fruits. No immoral issue here. They are living things and naturally, all living things die. People die. It is when we serve our purpose that makes living more meaningful.

We honor these plants that help us by PLANTING MORE of them. It is our way of thanking them and making them "immortal".

For the vegetarians, plant vegetables, okay?

Answer 3

Fruitarian. Eating what plants freely "give" based on evolutionary trait, to prolong their species (fruits, vine vegetables, nuts, etc.) That being said... Most plants do indeed "intend" to be eaten to some degree. Apple trees would not exist were it not for a sweet, vitamin-rich fruit that is appealing to animals. Animals eat the fruit, and carry the seeds to be deposited elsewhere, prolonging the species. Many lettuce or leafy varieties of plants have developed evolutionarily to NEED to be eaten... not only to prevent overgrowth, but also to transfer "cuttings" (i.e. small dropped pieces of leaf/stem) to spring forth an entirely new plant. Most plant-life REQUIRES the intervention of other species' to survive. It would be counter to their own evolutionary goals for these food plants to develop any sort of pain or "live to live" mechanisms when it would oppose their biological process OF reproduction/procreation.

Answer 4

When you talk to your plants and see them growing bigger, usually it's because you exhale carbon dioxide over their leaves, which stimulates growth.

That said, though, multiple studies reveal that, compared to normal plants, plants that are scolded or cursed actually do show stunted growth, and plants that are praised and blessed show enhanced growth. So there's got to be more to this than meets the eye.

Please try not to anguish over having to eat. You have a right to live, too. And maybe accepting that you can't live without causing SOME pain in the world might help you accept that you cant live without EXPERIENCING some pain, too. Ezekiel made a good point there.

Answer 5

It depends on what you consider 'hurt' to mean. Plants don't have a central nervous system so they do not feel pain in the same way we do. Nor do they have brains for that matter. However some plants do react to being cut damaged or even poked, so just because they don't feel pain as we do it doesn't necessarily mean that they don't react to painful stimuli. On the other hand, I'm a zookeeper, not a botanist, so the main criteria for pain are perhaps different. In animals pain guarding is a main 'symptom' of the ability to feel pain. This is where the animal tries to avoid the painful stimulus in order to reduce further pain (like taking your hand out of a pan of boiling water), plants do not do this which would suggest an innability to feel pain. However this may just be because plants have evolved with a relative innability to move anyway. (ie. they would move if they could, but they can't.)

Answer 6

Animals feel pain because they have nerves stretching throughout their body that 'feel' and send that to the brain. I'm not a big plant expert, but I know for a fact plants don't have a brain. So, while they may be living it's most definite they don't feel pain. And by the way, if we didn't eat fruits and vegetables we would die. Sorry to be rude, but this was a bit of a stupid question.

Answer 7

No, plants cannot feel pain because unlike humans and many, but not all animals, plants do not have nerve cells or pain receptors, which send signals to the brain when a stimulus caused by something painful occurs. Plants also do not have a brain because they have no nervous system.

Answer 8

No, plants do not feel pain. While they are livnig organisms they do not have a central nervous system. The "pain" people keep refering to when talking about plants is derived from research in which people too the findings out of context. In reality plants will ony respond to their enviornment through changes in the photosythetic process. In other words plants react differently when their chemical balance changes. It has nothing to do with pain.

Answer 9

In theory all living things feel pain and have limited recall to that pain. There have been experiments where a plat had a limb removed and continued to feed the area until a new limb grew so who really knows. Fruit bearing plants release their fruit (it is seed to them) so eating apples, tomatoes and such is really helping the plant to flourish. Root food like potato and carrot are the base of the plant and it's seed all at once so you need to harvest them to regrow them and the bounty is what is consumed.
The problem with concerning yourself over "plant pain" is that you will soon begin to worry over the microorganisms in water feel. All this worry will prevent you from eating and drinking then you will die and the plants, bugs and animals that eat you won't have any of the same concerns.

Answer 10

they may.. since some plants 'heal' over when they are 'wounded'.

there, make you happy? just look at the common tree.. what happens when you prune it... trim it up or saw off some larger limbs...

the 'wounds' (and they're called that too) heal over and leave large and sometimes unsightly 'calluses'.

ever read up on that "white tree"? i feel bad for that tree... it was cut down as a symbol of how whites and blacks still can't get along... racial equality and prejudice all of that crap... so because the tree had ropes put all over it to show up the blacks for taking reserved seats away from a bunch of whites at a local restaurant... suffered.. it was cut down afterwards...

so, the tree gets killed for a bunch of stupid racist pigs...?

see?

i felt bad for the tree.. i think they are "alive" in not just the they grow ideal.

but there's a moral to plants.. for some.. yes we can eat their bearings but we must leave enough of the plant behind so it can continue to produce. (can't recall where i read it.. ) it made sense.. i mean my grandparents (farmers of course) told me that all the time when i was growing up.
you can reap from the plant but never destroy it.

but with mass production again.. we destroy the plants while we use their materials to consume.

Answer 11

They must feel something! However, it is disputable as some say that they have no feeling and others say different. Logic clearly shows that the plants have feelings as they can sense the sun, darkness, daylight, wind and they can feel rain. Plants know when to flower and seed at the best possible time for them. As for causing pain etc. We have no choice but to kill vegetation for food, as we have no choice but to kill animals. We are omnivores and have to eat a fair amount of both animal and vegetable matter to survive. However, don't forget that (green) vegetables can carry "listeria" thus causing food poisoning to those that eat them and animals can carry salmonella, E-Coli etc. Therefore plants and animals do ocassionally get their revenge LOL