UKC

While I'm no Buddist, this does seem a bit unnecessary. Fair enough for proper research purposes but does this really need to be repeated by school kids...?


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24455141

In reply to JLS:

I'm certainly no tree hugging bunny hugger but I was a bit shocked to read it. I fail to see how it is educational - if they want to educate people how it works then do it once and stick a well put together documentary on the telly.

I particilarly like the line that says it doesn't harm the cockroach. You only have to sandpaper them, poke a wire inside them and chop off their main sensory organs!

What next? A DIY kit to help you squirt shampoo into rabbits eyes so you can learn if they like it???

In reply to JLS:


Lets hope if we're ever 'discovered' by some greater technology from somewhere in outer space they don't decide to haver similar experiments on us.

In reply to JLS: I read it and was shocked. There's no reason for this to be aimed at children at all.

Given the additional cruelty I don't have a problem contributing to the world by being an omnivore, I really can't get too worked up about a cockroach.

For the simpler forms of life, I tend to not worry about ethical issues of suffering. I've killed or maimed many a cockroach, ant and fly in my life with no regret. With the simpler nervous systems I doubt they feel anything we'd recognise as pain - besides I have to draw the line somewhere.
(I notice there's a substantial wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pain_in_invertebrates )

I think its awesome that the technology has gotten to the point that it's not research any more, it's a product.

In reply to needvert:

Maybe it's more question of the effect this has on you rather than on the cockroach. Perhaps they don't perceive pain as we understand it, but the end result is that you care less that they might.