Do insects feel pain? — A biological view

Do insects feel pain? A question at the intersection of animal behaviour, philosophy and robotics

“…For example, insects tend to continue to use damaged limbs (Eisemann et al, 1984), will eat their own innards (Miller, 2012; http://www.radiolab.org/story/185551-killer-empathy/) and will continue to feed while being consumed by another insect (Eisemann et al, 1984). However, the observation that insect behaviour differs from human behaviour when exposed to noxious stimuli does not necessarily mean that they do not have a pain-like experience.…”

“…For example, locusts will writhe when sprayed with DDT (Eisemann et al, 1984). However, they also exhibit complex behavioural responses to noxious stimuli.…”

“…A major objection to the idea that insects experience pain rather than nociception is the size and organization of their central nervous system (Eisemann et al, 1984). Insects have small nervous systems (typically less than a million neurons), consisting of several distributed brains (ganglia) (Bullock et al, 1977).…”

Driven to extinction? The ethics of eradicating mosquitoes with gene-drive technologies

“…First, it is not clear that mosquitoes bear valuable capacities such as consciousness or sentience that might make it appropriate to afford them a significant degree of moral status. For instance, although their view is not supported by all entomologists,16 in their review of the relevant literature, Eisemann et al 17 concluded that:…the evidence from consideration of the adaptive role of pain, the neural organization of insects and observations of their behaviour does not appear to support the occurrence in insects of a pain state.…”

Not to Harm a Fly: Our Ethical Obligations to Insects

“…In a careful and critical review of physiological and behavioral methodologies, Dawkins (1980) concluded that insects have the capaci ty to suffer pai n. Eisemann et al (1984) contend that available evidence does not support the occurrence of pain in insects, "such as occurs in humans." Even with this carefully qualified conclusion, Eisemann et al (1984) suggested that anesthetizing insects is desirable to guard against the possibility of pain and to preserve an attitude of respect towards living organisms. From an evolutionary view, the awareness of pain is such an enormously adaptive mechanism that it is unreasonable to simply assume that it is unique to humans.…”