Study suggest lobsters don't feel pain
Lobsters probably do not feel pain, according to a new study that stirs up a long-simmering debate over whether the creature suffers when it is being cooked.
Animal activists for years have claimed that lobsters are in agony when being cooked, and that dropping one in a pot of boiling water is tantamount to torture.
The study, funded by the Norwegian government and written by a scientist at Oslo University, suggests lobsters and other invertebrates such as crabs, snails and worms probably don’t suffer even if lobsters do tend to thrash in boiling water.
“Lobsters and crabs have some capacity of learning, but it is unlikely that they can feel pain,” concluded the 39-page report, aimed at determining if creatures without backbones should be subject to legislation as Norway revises its animal welfare law.
Lobster biologists maintain the lobster’s primitive nervous system and underdeveloped brain are similar to that of an insect. While lobsters react to different stimuli, such as boiling water, the reactions are escape mechanisms, not a conscious response or an indication of pain, they say.
“It’s a semantic thing: No brain, no pain,” said Mike Loughlin, a biologist at the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an animal rights organisation, has made lobster pain part of its Fish Empathy Project, putting out stickers and pamphlets with slogans such as “Being Boiled Hurts. Let Lobsters Live.”
Peta’s Karin Robertson called the Norwegian study biased, saying the government does not want to hurt the country’s fishing industry.
