What’s your verdict?
From: “Dr. David Scarfe”
Date: 25 November 2013 7:05:04 AWST
Subject: AquaVetMed e-News: Do Lobsters Feel Pain?
November 24, 2013
Do Lobsters Feel Pain?
Whether lobsters feel pain or not has fueled a sharp debate with lobster fishermen, animal rights activists, and scientists all weighing in. Determining whether lobsters feel pain is a key point in the animal cruelty-lobster cooking debate and scientists have weighed in with arguments of their own.
Scientist Says Lobsters Do Not Feel Pain – In the 2005 study “Sentience and Pain in Invertebrates”, published for the Norwegian Scientific Committee for Food Safety, biology professor Lauritz Somme from the University of Oslo concluded that “it is unlikely they [lobsters] can feel pain”. The professor argues that what may look like pain – a lobster thrashing about in a boiling pot – is actually a reflex to stimuli. This is different from pain which requires sentience or a sense of self-awareness. In essence, a lobster does not have the mental capacity to process pain and know it is feeling pain. This is an opinion shared heartily by those in the lobster industry. Bob Bayer, the Director of Maine’s Lobster Institute, is quoted as saying in the Institute’s Spring 2005 The Lobster Bulletin, “We’ve maintained all along that the lobster doesn’t have the ability to process pain….Neither insects nor lobsters have brains”.
Recent Studies Show Lobsters Feel Pain – Although proving sentience is difficult, recent studies may help prove that lobsters feel pain. Jennifer Viegas writes … … .
See the source (http://suite101.com/a/do-lobsters-feel-pain-a220490) for the full story.
[Recent press attention to pain and welfare of lobsters and other invertebrates was stimulated by a recent PETA “undercover” video of a lobster process facility – http://tinyurl.com/kwqnlbv. Some early attempts to objectively discuss invertebrate pain and welfare is available at http://www.vkm.no/dav/413af9502e.pdf and http://www.oie.int/doc/ged/D2217.PDF. ADS-Mod]
___________________________
AquaVetMed e-News provides information to veterinary and veterinary-allied subscribers concerning aquatic animal medicine, health, welfare, public health and seafood safety, obtained from a variety of sources (largely AquaVetMed subscribers). While provided by the American Veterinary Medical Association’s, Aquatic Veterinary Medicine Committee and are for public distribution, they do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the AVMA or the veterinary profession. See the AVMA Terms of Use (http://tinyurl.com/29h2rf) for further information.
If e-News information is used elsewhere please acknowledge AquaVetMed as the source. Encourage individuals to subscribe rather than distribute through list serves.
Messages may contain attachments that will have been scanned for known viruses.
Subscription and Contributions: Interested veterinarians and veterinary-allied professionals can subscribe, unsubscribe, or contribute pertinent news or information, by sending a message with “For AquaVetMed -” and the topic in the subject line, to dscarfe@avma.org.
Note: Undelivered e-mails will not be resent; Subscribers will be deleted from the list after repeated undelivered or bounced messages and will have to re-subscribe.
Visit our website: http://www.avma.org
________________________________
