WASHINGTON -- A recent European study has suggested that lobsters don't feel pain when being boiled. For a lobster, the study suggests, going into a boiling pot is like taking a dip in a hot tub.

The study has caused an uproar as people recall that other studies have indicated that even plants can feel pain, and in the animal world -- from seashells to humans -- pain has traditionally been accepted as a part of being alive.

What is also interesting about this lobster study is that its focus on "luxury goods" reeks of commercialism.