How do you know plants don't suffer when you eat them?

Just between you and me, I think veg*ns are hypocrites. Just 'cause they don't eat "certain" animals, they think they deserve to be the arbiter of ethics. I find them marginally amusing, clutching at straws to defend their own share of killing, whether it's bacteria, insects, rodents, mice, snakes, spiders, squirrels... you name it, they kill it.

Besides, studies have demonstrated that plants thrive when loved and spoken to -- proof that plants feel love and the pain of rejection. No scientist has conclusively proven otherwise, that plants do not feel pain, quite the contrary. A number of studies have shown that plants feel pain, and vegetables are picked and often eaten while still alive. Why aren't Animal Rights activists protesting for Vegetable Rights?

And if we are hurting plants, a more likely possibility than not, then animals are fair game too.

Why do you care? My lifestyle choice is not affecting you or if it is it is benefiting you as being vegetarian is more environmentally friendly. I and many others did not choose to become vegetarian or vegan to "save the animals". I did it for the environment which I would like to protect and mostly for health reasons. i was already allergic to chicken and fish and my mom was allergic to beef so we didn't eat that either. It wasn't that hard to completely cut meat out of my diet. Furthermore i now feel more energetic then i ever did before and eat a far more nutritious diet. Studies have shown vegetarians and vegans are healthier.

To answer your arguments:

We don't know that they don't suffer but why does that justify eating something you know suffers. Just like i don't know that if i throw a ball and it hits the ground that it doesn't feel pin but that is not reason to start chucking balls at people.

More pain would be caused to plants if I ate meat because the animals eat meat. It takes 16 lbs of grain to produce 1lb of beef. Therefore more plants die in your process.

Finally with your logic you are a "species racist". You say killing bacteria,plants,fungi,archea and all other species except humans is okay? That is discrimination.

please don't use stereotypes to try to make a point that really does not affect you it makes you look ignorant

First of all, your argument is invalid because not all vegetarians are vegetarians for animal rights - some are due to health reasons, dietary restrictions, allergies, etc.

Secondly, PLEASE do not liken racism to picking what things you want to eat that are OUTSIDE of your own species. Seriously.

Third of all, as everyone has already said, plants do not have central nervous systems that are able to recept pain. As a matter of fact, this occurs in animals that are cephalized, so not even all species of animals are this complex. Leukocytes engulf pathogens that are not even necessarily alive (like viruses), so I'm not sure where you're going there.

I can understand you not agreeing with animal rights, or even going vegetarian, but you should really read up more before you rant on the Internet.

By the way, I do eat meat.

Species Racist? So if I go ahead and eat animals, plants, fungus, and bacteria of every species then I'm okay with you? I'll go on being a species racist because there are some bacteria that I want my immune system to kill and others that I won't go near. I wouldn't eat an endangered species of bird or poison berries but I will go ahead and eat a mushroom with no remorse.

This statement is often made by people trying to rationalise that since plants feel pain, it must be ok to kill animals. For plants to feel pain they must have some sort of organised tissue, upon stimulation would activate a structure in the plant that is conscious and could perceive the stimulation as painful.There are no structures within plants that are analogs to the pain receptors, neurons and pain receiving portions of the brains of vertebrate animals. Plants don't have a brain or a nervous system that provides pain receptors. Even if, contrary to all evidence, plants did feel pain, it would still be preferable to be vegan. More plants are in non-vegan diets as more plants have to be harvested to feed animals.

I'm sorry, but it's always hard to answer vegetarian/vegan questions like these! It's hard to know what kind of food you should eat. Ok, you've made the choice not to eat meat, that's fine. But now you're wondering if it's bad to eat plants because it has feeling? There's not much left for a human to eat!

It is no "assumption" to say that fellow humans and fellow animals possess a nervous system which the other biological kingdoms lack. Possession of biological life isn't the issue at all, but SENTIENCE.

Your ignorance of science and ethics.....LOL.

no longer whilst they are quite being eaten of course, with the help of this time they are normally cooked and ineffective. perhaps whilst they are picked or harvested nonetheless. In a roald dahl e book it says that they scream at a extra robust frequency then we are able to pay attention. Is that the place you got that from Doug?

If you're criticising vegetarians for being "species racist", does that mean you eat dogs and aardvarks, or even humans?

Plants dont have pain receptors.

animals have the ability to run away when they feel pain, and I have yet to see a vegetable run screaming off of my counter top.

Do you really have nothing better to do than troll people whose life choices don't affect you? Pathetic.