Swiss experts say plants have rights too
Plants need protection from maltreatment and pollution, government experts said on Monday.
A report by the government-appointed Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology (ECNH) described interfering with plants without a valid reason as "morally inadmissible".
The committee looked at ethical views held on plants and issues of how their use could be justified.
It said that from a wider perspective, "all action involving plants for the preservation of the human race was morally justified".
A majority of the committee found that genetic modification of a plant did not contradict the idea of its "dignity" if it did not harm its adaptive or reproductive capacities, adding that the patented use of plants was acceptable.
The ECNH was appointed to give an ethical perspective on the field of non-human biotechnology and gene technology and develop proposals on the principle of the dignity of creatures.
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"If these Plants can in effect change over time and respond to their environment, should they not be accorded the same rights as animals who have the same behaviors and abilities, but execute them over a faster time period?" No. (Any more questions?)
Like Mr Nolan, I too think this is wonderful, though for different reasons. The challenge - which the ECNH meets with aplomb - is to discuss this matter while keeping one's face straight. 'Dignity' is a proper (if woolly) concept to apply to human beings. It is reasonable to consider whether it applies to higher animals. But plants! - it would make almost as much sense to talk about the dignity of filing cabinets.
Perhaps the Swiss government should focus on giving women equal rights before plants.