Swiss experts say plants have rights too
Plants need protection from maltreatment and pollution, government experts said on Monday.
You will be relieved to know that these Swiss experts are cool with genetic altering of plant life — as long as the plant’s reproductive capacity isn’t diminished. Seriously.
Although the news is slightly old, I couldn’t resist sharing it – especially for my very first post on BD.
Speaking of which, I’m delighted to have been asked to join the crack blogging team here at Bearing Drift. Jim suggested I explain my pseudonym, De Civitate Hominis, to you for a first post but I thought I’d let a few of the Latin and ancient history (or theology) buffs here on BD take a shot at doing that in the comments.
Instead, I’ll regale you with a few quotes from the Swiss panel’s report:
They are troubled that “There is no social consensus on how to deal with plants.”
However, the majority on the panel agree that
“we do not possess unrestricted power over plants. We may not use them just as we please, even if the plant community is not in danger, or if our actions do not endanger the species, or if we are not acting arbitrarily.”
Bet you weren’t considering that when you ordered Mother’s Day flowers!
You’ll be happy to know that only a minority of these experts believe “based on current knowledge, that plants are sentient” while some think it likely that the question of sentience regarding plant life is unanswerable. Have you ever tried communicating with an ear of corn?
Should you wish to delve further into this great moral question of our time, the Swiss government has happily made the findings of their panel of experts available online.
