Lobsters Unlikely to Feel Pain

[papau]

A new study out of Norway concludes it's unlikely lobsters feel pain, stirring up a long-simmering debate over whether Maine's most valuable seafood suffers when it's being cooked - its thrashing is a reaction to stimuli - boiling water - but only as escape mechanisms, not a conscious response or an indication of pain?



http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=624&ncid=716&e=8&u=/ap/20050215/ap_on_sc/lobster_pain

Study: Lobsters Unlikely to Feel Pain

The study, which was funded by the Norwegian government and written by a scientist at the University of Oslo, suggests that lobsters and other invertebrates 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," the study concluded.

The 39-page report was aimed at determining if invertebrates should be subject to animal welfare legislation as Norway revises its animal welfare law. The report looked at invertebrate groups such as insects, crustaceans, worms and mollusks and summarized the scientific literature dealing with feelings and pain among those creatures without backbones.

It concluded that most invertebrates — including lobsters, crabs, worms, snails, slugs and clams — probably don't have the capacity to feel pain. <snip>