The Era beyond Eisemann et al. (1984): Insect Pain in the 21st Century

Can insects feel pain? In 1984, Eisemann et al. collected the best available evidence to offer a tentative answer: there appeared to be little evidence to support an adaptive role for pain experience in insects. In the intervening years, Eisemann et al. have been cited to support the lack of pain in insects in hundreds of journal articles, popular press books, and more. However, the science related to insect pain has progressed substantially in the last four decades since its publication. Therefore, we revisit the claims made in Eisemann et al. and demonstrate that many have been undermined by subsequent neurobiological and behavioral discoveries. Based on the evidence presented, we conclude that it is time to move beyond Eisemann et al. as the definitive scientific authority on insect pain. Both academic and popular discussions of insect pain should begin engaging with more recent literature. We stress that the cumulative evidence presented herein is not intended to prove, and does not prove, that insects feel pain. However, it moves us significantly away from Eisemann et al.’s conclusion that it is implausible, instead supporting the view that pain in insects deserves serious attention and warrants, as even Eisemann et al. supported in 1984, some application of the precautionary principle.