Whether or not an organism feels pain is irrelevant to the morality of the act of killing or consuming them. A negative stimuli causes an organism to react, recoil, run away, etc, which in creatures with central nervous systems is interpreted as "pain". Being self-aware, and actually knowing you are in pain is called "suffering", and it is a very different thing, philosophically, and a much higher standard to be met. I could see a rational argument for avoiding causing suffering (say, among cattle, chickens, etc). But that, once again, says nothing about the moral justification of killing or consuming them. Would it be permissible to kill and eat a cow if we genetically manipulated or surgically altered it to feel no pain whatsoever? There are people who have a condition where they cannot feel pain at all. Does this mean I am permitted to mutilate or kill them? Clearly, pain is not a morally relevant feature in this debate.
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Whether or not an organism feels pain is irrelevant to the morality of the act of killing or consuming them. A negative stimuli causes an organism to react, recoil, run away, etc, which in creatures with central nervous systems is interpreted as "pain". Being self-aware, and actually knowing you are in pain is called "suffering", and it is a very different thing, philosophically, and a much higher standard to be met. I could see a rational argument for avoiding causing suffering (say, among cattle, chickens, etc). But that, once again, says nothing about the moral justification of killing or consuming them. Would it be permissible to kill and eat a cow if we genetically manipulated or surgically altered it to feel no pain whatsoever? There are people who have a condition where they cannot feel pain at all. Does this mean I am permitted to mutilate or kill them? Clearly, pain is not a morally relevant feature in this debate.