Growing scientific evidence that lobsters and other large crustaceans experience pain has prompted legislation requiring humane killing before cooking; traditional live-boiling causes prolonged suffering.
The traditional practice of plunging lobsters directly into boiling water is increasingly difficult to justify given evidence of crustacean pain processing. Electrical stunning devices for restaurants and processors are commercially available and achieve instantaneous insensibility. The scientific consensus has shifted toward treating large crustaceans as likely sentient beings deserving of humane treatment at killing.