pain,whiletheplantsarenot.Atthispointsomeoneisbound
to ask: “How do we know that plants do not suffer?”
Thisobjectionmayarisefromagenuineconcernforplants;
butmoreoftenthoseraisingitdonotseriouslycontemplate
extendingconsiderationtoplantsifitshouldbeshown that
theysuffer;insteadtheyhopetoshowthatifweweretoact
on theprinciple I haveadvocated we would haveto stop
eatingplantsaswellasanimals,andsowouldstarvetodeath.
Theconclusiontheydrawisthatif itisimpossibleto live
without violating the principle of equal consideration, we
neednotbotheraboutitatall,butmaygoon aswehave
always done, eating plants and animals.
Theobjection isweak in both fact and logic.There is no
reliableevidencethatplantsarecapableoffeelingpleasureor
pain. Some years ago a popular book, The Secret Life of
Plants, claimed that plants have all sorts of remarkable
abilities, including theability to readpeople’s minds. The
moststrikingexperimentscitedinthebookwerenotcarried
out at serious research institutions, and attempts by
researchers in major universities to repeat the experiments
havefailedtoobtainanypositiveresults.Thebook’sclaims
have now been completely discredited.^31
InthefirstchapterofthisbookIgavethreedistinctgrounds
forbelievingthatnonhumananimalscanfeelpain:behavior,
the nature of their nervous systems, and the evolutionary
usefulness of pain. None of these gives usany reason to
believethatplantsfeelpain.Intheabsenceofscientifically
credible experimental findings, there is no observable
behavior that suggests pain; nothing resembling a central
nervoussystemhasbeenfoundinplants;anditisdifficultto