Ananova:

Lobsters probably do not feel pain when they are dropped into a pot of boiling water, claims a new study.

Animal activists claim lobsters are in agony when being cooked, and that boiling them alive is torture.

But the study, by a scientist at Oslo University, suggests lobsters and other invertebrates such as crabs, snails and worms probably don't suffer.

"Lobsters and crabs have some capacity of learning, but it is unlikely that they can feel pain," concluded the report.

Biologists maintain that the lobster['s primitive nervous system and underdeveloped brain are similar to that of an insect.

"It's a semantic thing: No brain, no pain," said Mike Loughlin, a biologist at the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission.

Animal rights organisation Peta has made lobster pain part of its Fish Empathy Project with slogans such as 'Being Boiled Hurts. Let Lobsters Live'.

Peta's Karin Robertson said the Norwegian government-funded study was biased to protect the country's fishing industry.

"This is exactly like the tobacco industry claiming that smoking doesn't cause cancer," she said.