Insect Welfare

[Analogous]

“People farm insects for all sorts of reasons: Farmers rear bees to pollinate billions of dollars of crops, textile companies raise silkworms for their cocoons, and cosmetic companies use cochineal beetles for dyes. Researchers also put insects to work in labs: Fruit flies have revolutionized genetics, cockroaches provide insights into neurobiology, and ants inspire AI driven robots.
trillions of insects are farmed each year across the globe – more than all other livestock combined. Each year, producers rear some 2.1 trillion black soldier flies alone – and, if industry trends hold, will be rearing three times as many in 2035. Currently, roughly 30 times as many insects are produced as the most-farmed “traditional” farm animal: the chicken.
It’s widely acknowledged that it’s wrong to cause unnecessary pain in animals. So, if insects can feel pain, then there is an ethical reason to protect their welfare.”

Insects are everywhere in farming and research − but insect welfare is just catching up

There’s no single, simple way to assess whether bugs feel pain, but research is giving scientists a better understanding of their abilities.

theconversation.com

 

[arj]

Very interesting read and this took me to the other topic of do Plants feel pain . while they dont have nerves the way animals have they do show distress an some experiments have apparently shown a high frequency distress. Similarly Trees using the Myocellium network to communicate amongst themselves or large groups of trees

so we take the ethical debates to plants as well and just because they do not make sound or behave the way we do does that make it ok to kill them just because they cannot communicate with us ?

I guess , in the end , life is "brutal " which is by our own definition of what is brutal as for plants and animals its regular life.