An Excerpt from a Press Release from The Lobster Institute

The Lobster Institute has received many inquiries about whether boiling lobsters is humane. Being concerned about this important question, researchers conducted experiments and studied the lobster's nervous system.

A few seconds after a lobster is dropped in boiling water, it will begin to twitch its tail. The tail movement, which continues for approximately one minute, is part of a reflex action found in lobsters and crayfish (but not in crabs). Known as the escape response, it is a reflex action to any sudden external stimulus.

The nervous system of a lobster is very simple; in fact it is most similar to the nervous system of an insect. If one compares a diagram of a lobster's nervous system and that of a grasshopper, the similarities are apparent. Neither insects nor lobsters have brains. For an organism to perceive pain, it must have a complex nervous system. Neurophysiologists tell us that lobsters, like insects, do not process pain.

Researchers believe that the best way to minimize the lobster's movement time is to chill/ice it before dropping it in water that has come to a rolling boil.