I鈥檓 unsure if this is more philosophy than science, but is it wrong for a vegetarian to eat a meat-eating plant?
鈥� No, it鈥檚 not. A vegetarian is someone who doesn鈥檛 personally consume certain animal products. But such products can make their way into any plant through the soil it grows in. The person eating the plant isn鈥檛 responsible for its food chain, and cannot easily determine what conditions it developed in.
Karina Robertus
Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada
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鈥� Carnivorous plants such as the Venus flytrap and pitcher plant are effectively using the bodies of their prey to manufacture their own fertiliser. From this perspective, there isn鈥檛 much difference between eating one of these plants and eating a plant fertilised with animal by-products such as bone, blood or fishmeal. These fertilisers are often used in organic farming. Some vegans refuse to eat vegetables produced in this manner.
By the way, while I don鈥檛 think anyone has ever put one in their salad, the digestive juices of a pitcher plant are said to be sweet and refreshing, at least for desperate travellers in the jungle.
Stephen Jorgenson-Murray
Frankfurt, Germany
鈥� My brother in South Australia maintains a magnificent garden in which all of the vegetables are 鈥渇ish-eating鈥�. He digs a trench and then goes fishing for a day to fill it with carp from the Murray river. Then he tops it up with soil, before finally plants seeds or seedlings. His crops are much better than most 鈥渧egetarian鈥� vegetables. However, as the fish are killed purely to feed the vegetables, I have concluded that his crops are not suitable for vegetarians.
Jan Horton
West Launceston, Tasmania, Australia
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