From the NY Times:
But before we cede the entire moral penthouse to "committed vegetarians" and "strong ethical vegans," we might consider that plants no more aspire to being stir-fried in a wok than a hog aspires to being peppercorn-studded in my Christmas clay pot. This is not meant as a trite argument or a chuckled aside. Plants are lively and seek to keep it that way.
This is, in a word, excrement.
Author Natalie Angier makes a simple, yet serious error in her analysis:
Where there is no nervous system, there is no pain.
Further, where this is no brain to receive pain signals via some biological mechanism, no pain is felt there, either.
The author -- rather dishonestly, in my opinion -- attempts to equate the suffering of plants with that of the animals we kills to eat and wear. This is simply disingenuous. A diet that includes meat also demands pain, suffering, and death on the part ofthe animals involved. A diet that includes plants demands no such cost from the plants.
Angier comes off, unfortunately, as utterly smug in her certainty of an opinion that is nothing short of preposterous.
If your diet includes meat, please don't insult your intelligence and mine with bullshit like this. I choose not to consume animal products, and believe that this is one of the moth ethical, environmental, and healthy decisions anyone can make. And it is entirely one's own choice.
Angier's headline says: "Sorry, Vegans: Brussels Sprouts Like to Live, Too"
No, Ms. Angier, they absolutely, positvely do not want any such thing.