Gentlefolk,
 
(My $0.02.)
 
As our knowledge base continues to grow (and approaches hyperbolic rates),
we are all faced with making increasingly sophisticated decisions about
things.  Interestingly, one of the sad trends of these times, running
parallel to the above, is that there's a lot of people who want everything
(certainly in the USA), but not the responsibility that goes along with
having just that.
 
Knowledge is a tricky thing, really.  Once you know something, you're
_forced_ to make a decision about it.  Even deciding to do nothing is a
decision.  This is at the core of the great debates in the ethics of
science.  When the recently unraveled human genome is fully understood,
and bioengineering reaches a point where the entire genetic code can be
manipulated with ease (and, if trends in biotech continue as they are, we
will reach this point all to soon for those who wish to forget about such
achievements), what are the ethical considerations of that?  Doesn't every
human born from that point on deserve to be free of all genetically linked
diseases (I leave this question open--but keep in mind, there's no
consensus among researchers to date)?
 
Deafness is a disease, by definition (Webster's dictionary: disease: a
condition of the living animal or plant body or of one of its parts that
impairs normal functioning).  (For those deaf ferrets on the list, please
pardon the brutal terminology--I love you all.) I guess one could argue
that the a deaf ferret's ears are functioning normally because they were
born that way, but such logic is silly.  We know how ears a "normal" ear
is supposed to function.
 
It doesn't matter if you call deafness a defect, or just different.  The
genetic link is a part of our knowledge base.  There's really only one
responsible way to handle the W-genes--breed to prevent deafness.
Especially when one considers the (admittedly anecdotal) evidence that
a fair number deaf ferrets end up at shelters.  We must remember that a
large portion of ferret adopters appear to be people who aren't as deeply
interested in ferrets as those dedicated ferret people on the FML, and it
may be unreasonable to expect them to be aware of the possibility of
deafness--after all, they've probably already taken on a lot if
information about ferret care as it is, and possible deafness might just
slip through the cracks ("Oh, my ferrets won't be deaf!").  That has to
be a consideration when breeding to sell to the general public.
 
Bottom line: Breeding for a specific color with the knowledge that it will
yield a relatively large number of deaf animals is unethical, on several
counts.  (Of course, I make no claims about the ethical behavior of
businesses (don't confuse with a ferret business)!)
 
One day scientists will completely unravel the ferret's genetic code.  At
that point, there may be the option of eliminating the W-genes and
producing pandas, blazes and DEWs that have perfect hearing 100% of the
time (as well as coaxing out color schemes that no one has seen to date).
I look forward to that day.
 
Thanks for your time.
 
All the best,
 
Wolf
Jaxom, Kasumi, Nabiki, Oscar, Piemur, Ripley and Samantha
[Posted in FML issue 3115]