At least one trillion insects are killed each year to obtain food and animal fodder. Routine methods of killing include extreme heat and cold, often followed by starvation. By comparison, “only” about 79 billion mammals and birds are slaughtered each year for similar purposes.
It is based on the fact that killing processes are generally not painful to animals. But a new study examining more than 300 scientific studies shows that there is evidence that at least some insects feel pain. Insects that fall outside this scope are those that have not been studied yet.
In particular, studies on honeybees indicate that the way these insects feel pain is very similar to how humans feel pain.
A large number of insects are killed with pesticides every year. The mode of death in response to the drug is asphyxiation, paralysis, or internal organs rupture.
Serious claims have been made recently that the principle that animals should not suffer is often disregarded for insects. The reason for this is that insects are thought to be very simple in structure and have a very short average lifespan. However, the evidence that insects also feel pain is increasing day by day.
It has been proven that honey bees suffer.Do insects suffer?
If insects feel pain, then insect farming and pest control are causing mass suffering. Yet animal welfare debates and laws almost universally ignore insects. One reason is that, historically, insects were often viewed as very simple and with a very short lifespan. But the evidence that insects sense pain continues to accumulate.
In fact, it is difficult to answer the question of whether insects feel pain. Pain is, by its very nature, a special experience. The difficulty of diagnosing pain when the entity in question cannot speak is exemplified by infants. In the 1980s, many surgeons believed that babies would not feel pain and rarely used anesthesia. Because they thought babies’ obvious responses, such as screaming and writhing, were “just reflexes.”
While we still have no proof that babies feel pain, most experts now strongly agree.
For any being that can’t communicate their pain directly, we need to rely on common sense and probability. The more signs of pain found, the higher the probability. It is necessary to use consistent criteria across animals and to look for behavioral pain indicators in insects that are the same as those used in a cow or pet dog.
Scientists who did this were able to prove that honey bees suffer in the first stage. So, we do know that insects can also suffer, even though there is not a large group of subjects at this time.
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