No Brain, No Pain

A Norwegian study indicates that it is unlikely that lobsters feel pain when they are boiled. It's an issue that PETA has been very concerned about over the years.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, an animal rights organization based in Norfolk, Virginia, 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." Group supporters regularly demonstrate at the Maine Lobster Festival in Rockland.

One lobster biologist from Maine who studied the matter while he was a graduate student sums up the study's conclusions as "No brain, no pain," which raises an interesting question. If you give a PETA member a noogie, will he scream?