Step Away From the Plant

Ha! I love it. The march towards mankind being treated as an undesirable byproduct, a toxin really, of the world continues:

A few years ago the Swiss added to their national constitution a provision requiring "account to be taken of the dignity of creation when handling animals, plants and other organisms." No one knew exactly what it meant, so they asked the Swiss Federal Ethics Committee on Non-Human Biotechnology to figure it out. The resulting report, "The Dignity of Living Beings with Regard to Plants," is enough to short circuit the brain.

A "clear majority" of the panel adopted what it called a "biocentric" moral view, meaning that "living organisms should be considered morally for their own sake because they are alive." Thus, the panel determined that we cannot claim "absolute ownership" over plants and, moreover, that "individual plants have an inherent worth." This means that "we may not use them just as we please, even if the plant community is not in danger, or if our actions do not endanger the species, or if we are not acting arbitrarily."

Soon something like this will have to be adopted in the US. Then it's only a matter of time before some metrosexual college professor in a sweater initiates a class action lawsuit on behalf of some patch of milkweed in his neighbor's yard.

Face it folks, this stuff will continue to the point where our status sits just under that of dental floss.

h/t plime