Silk production kills billions of silkworm pupae annually through boiling or hot air treatment, raising questions about invertebrate welfare that are gaining increasing attention.
The scale of silkworm killing in silk production - billions of individuals per year - makes it one of the largest categories of farmed animal mortality globally. While certainty about silkworm sentience remains lower than for vertebrates, the precautionary principle and growing scientific understanding of invertebrate pain responses argue for caution. Peace silk alternatives demonstrate that production without killing is possible. As our understanding of insect welfare improves, the conventional silk industry faces increasing ethical scrutiny.