As insect farming grows, scientists are urgently investigating whether insects can suffer and what that means.
The question of insect sentience has enormous implications for animal welfare. Insects have simple nervous systems relative to vertebrates, but show behavioral flexibility, learning, and responses to damaging stimuli that complicate easy dismissal of their experiences. Given the vast numbers involved, even a small probability of insect sentience represents a potentially enormous scale of suffering. Applying a precautionary principle — minimizing insect suffering even under uncertainty — seems prudent given the stakes.