Lobstergate

I heard an interesting debate on CNBC this morning over lobsters and their ability to feel pain.  At issue was Whole Foods' recent decision to stop selling live lobsters in their stores (the chain will still sell the dead kind).

A PETA representative came on to lecture about what he called unanimity among the scientific community that lobsters were classified as "Type 1" animals, in that they experience pain the same way a dog, cat, or human does.  Over this, he assured us, there was no disagreement.  He plugged peta.org a few times and went on his malnourished way.

Next up was a representative from The Lobster Institute who, well, begged to differ.  Lobsters, it turns out, are brainless, much the way insects are brainless.  From the Institute's website:

The lobsters nervous system is very primitive. In fact it is most similar to the nervous system of an insect. Neither insects nor lobsters have brains. Further, lobsters and other invertebrates have only approximately 100,000 neurons while humans have over 100 billion.

With my million-fold neural advantage over our crustaceous brethren (plus, the fact that I count a brain among my nervous system components), I suspect I in fact have a more nuanced appreciation for pain than your average lobster.  As the host noted, when you bait a hook with a live worm, the worm wriggles about, but it doesn't mean it's feeling pain (this allusion to the murderous practice of fishing no doubt further traumatized the PETA rep).

If PETA wants to spare themselves the horror of watching a live lobster meet its maker in boily fashion, they're welcome to look away.  They're also welcome to go on encouraging us to refute our own biology and subsist off of parentless foods.  But their consistent MO of trading in wild and baseless inaccuracies really should serve to further marginalize the already fringey group.

I don't even like lobster.  Or any seafood for that matter.  Fish tends to taste like fish, which I find pretty objectionable.  Any food category that smells like it's gone bad even when it's fresh is one I don't need to be involved with.  When you walk outside and realize someone's having a barbecue, it's an olfactory delight.  When you walk past a fishmarket, you're forced to question why God cursed you with the sense of smell.

That said, I may be willing to learn to like lobster, simply out of spite for PETA's dishonest and heavy-handed ways.

Previously:
Fishing for Dignity
PETA the Puppy Slayer