If a tomato contains fish genes, is it still vegetarian?
We live in a time of breathtaking technological advances, and we now have the ability to tinker with the genetic code that is the instruction manual for life itself. An uncountable number of “transgenic organisms” or “genetically modified organisms” (that is, organisms whose DNA has been deliberately altered) have been created in the lab, and in some parts of the world there are thousands of genetically-modified food products on sale, with more in development. This form of genetic alteration can result in much more far-reaching genetic alteration than could ever have been brought about by traditional selective breeding. As one commentator put it:
There are now fish genes in fruit, poultry genes in fish, animal genes in plants, growth hormones in milk, insect genes in vegetables, tree genes in grain, and in the case of pork, human genes in meat.
One well-known Buddhist, who was the author of a bill that banned the growing and raising of transgenic organisms in his county, expressed his concerns about this mix-and-match approach to agriculture:
In the early 1990′s I read that scientists were putting insect and animal genes in vegetables. As a vegetarian I was very concerned, because I didn’t want to eat vegetables that had insect and animal genes in them. I felt that this violated Buddhist principles about pure vegetarian food…
I have to admit that I likewise find the idea of putting animal genes into plants disquieting. The human mind has a tendency to like things, like species, to be neatly categorized into boxes, although nature itself is not so fastidious (you have more viral than human DNA in your genome, for example). And there may be safety and other ethical concerns about genetically modified — for example whether someone who is allergic to fish might be harmed by eating a tomato containing fish genes, or whether there would be harmful effects if genetically-modified animals were to escape and mate with their wild cousins are valid questions. However, the idea of “purity” raised explicitly by the author of the quote above and perhaps implicitly in the instinctive shudder many of us feel when contemplating genetic modification simply isn’t in accord with a strict reading of Buddhist ethics.
Vegetarianism in Buddhist practice isn’t fundamentally to do with purity (the idea that you are “polluting” yourself by putting animal products in to your body). Rather it’s to do with reducing the amount of harm we cause and with developing greater lovingkindness. Non-Buddhist ideas of purity and pollution are commonly smuggled in to Buddhist practice, however. It’s almost inevitable that we’ll do this, because the “purity ethic” is deeply rooted in every culture, to the point where we don’t even question it, and we’re bound to have been conditioned by such ideas from an early age.
The fact that a tomato may contain a gene from a fish, or a potato DNA from an insect, doesn’t create any intrinsic problems for a Buddhist vegetarian who doesn’t fall into the trap of the “purity ethic.” Fish or insects may or may not have been harmed at some point in the development of these crops (although you don’t need to harm an animal to extract its DNA), but even if such harm had occurred it’s at a great remove from the actual consumption of the vegetables.
By the way, I’m not arguing here that genetically modifying organisms is a good thing or that we should do it, just pointing out that vegetables containing DNA from animals would still be vegetarian.
6 Responses to “If a tomato contains fish genes, is it still vegetarian?”
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You’re currently reading “If a tomato contains fish genes, is it still vegetarian?,” an entry on Bodhipaksa's blog, bodhi tree swaying
Published: Mar 06 2009
Interesting post. I thought that the basis for Buddhist vegetarianism was the not harming a conscious being. So one would have to wonder if consciousness comes with a gene.
I also remember reading somewhere that scientists have been able to clone muscle tissue, basically fabricating meat without an animal. Just for the sake of contemplation, could a Buddhist eat this without doing harm?
In general, I would love to see a study of cultural food taboo’s. My interest was seeded by an association with a Buddhist group that abstained from eating onions and garlic.
Hi Janine,
That’s more or less my point, although expressed in different terms, that the ahimsa ethic of Buddhism is lost sight of when we start considering purity and keeping animal genes out of our diet – which is impossible anyway since even vegetarian food is inevitably contaminated. Any idea how many worms are in the average gallon of organic apple juice?
The question of vat-grown meat is one I’ll return to. This post is actually the first draft of a new section in the second edition of my book on Buddhism and vegetarianism. Vat-grown meat is up next.
Onions and garlic are actually common taboo-foods for celibates in Indian traditions because they were believed to be aphrodisiacs.
Farming vegetables also entail a lot of death and destruction. There is crop spraying, nests and burrows dug up, natural habitats destroyed. All just to keep this body alive. This is why we should not forget the ultimate goal of non-birth.
Hi Chui Tey,
That’s absolutely true, although in case anyone tries to use that point in defence of eating meat I’d like to point out that food animals are fed huge amounts of grain soybeans, etc, so that the kinds of destruction you talk about take place at even higher levels when we eat meat.
There is ‘harm’ in everything we do – it is acting with compassion that is important. I can hear my gut bacteria screaming.
When writing software you often end up creating a ‘monster’ in the form of a routine that is merrily grinding through the data but doing something complete wrong. I have often felt compassion for the thing before hitting ctrl-c and killing it stone dead. Try it next time you have to reboot. It is at least another mindfulness trigger for the day.
[...] of trying to acquire and cook with this transgenic organism. I will be sure to invite a bunch of Buddhists Vegetarians to my transgenic soup [...]