I hope I don't make anyone feel as if I'm "talking about them" specifically when I say what I'm about to. I'm not. I'm not even paying attention to who the authors are when people chatter. I notice, but its not something that sticks with me. I just want to say something in the most general sense to everyone involved, in hopes of giving some people some insight into what is going on. This is what I have seen over a very long course of time. In the past, I have seen people who have suffered a sad turn of events with their ferrets who questioned the Des implant. Just as they questioned everything else that happened along with the incident in question. I saw knowledgeable people who wanted to help and generously step forward. But, often times, very experienced, intellectual and professional people don't always know quite how to .. handle a sensitive social situation. What they say is polite, informative and correct. But what they don't realize is the underlying tone and that their approach sounds defensive of a product or science to some. It doesn't help when the conversation isn't preceded with a heart felt sympathetic statement. And then by something even more personal that shows you relate to that person and their pet. Whenever approaching a person who believes in something, in this case it may be that a des implant caused something bad, its best to start off with an open mind and seeing it from their side. Put your own assumptions and beliefs aside for just one minute. When someone doesn't start off the conversation that way, the person doesnt' feel as if they were heard or taken seriously. You come across as defensive, sometimes even aggressively so with your statements. This makes the individual become emotional and dig their heels in. To be heard, they resort to being "louder" or more dramatic. Meanwhile, the other person is completely blind to the fact that even though they didn't do anything wrong necessarily that they instigated a debate. The hurt person sees the other person as being argumentative and only caring about their scientific belief. The helpful person sees the other person as being alarmist and emotional. Bad juju. There has been a very slow burning smoldering fire over the course of a very long time because people were to intimidated to step forward. They saw others being met with arguments. So they hung back. Talk about making the grounds ripe for rumor, belligerence, and everything else bad you can think of. I venture to say that people who are "in the know", have no clue this has being going on to the extent it has. That is because they are the last people some would go to with their concerns because they are too scared to be met with nay saying. The result is many people believe there is a panic or bandwagon. When this began it definitely wasn't a panic even though others said it was. People who came forward were concerned and confused and wanted to talk. A FB page was made so people could freely vent and exchange ideas. That isnt' panic. A bandwagon hadn't been created "yet" (and has yet to as far as I know). A bandwagon means that others are jumping onto support something in popularity. I don't see people who have no experience with Des implants or dog in the fight blindly shouting "yeah! They're bad, look at what happened to so and so". I see many people on the web trying to squash fires. But poorly so. They are so fixated on 'stoping the panic' and being right, that they don't see that they themselves are fanning the flames. They are panicking that there is a panic!!!! Well now things are indeed breaching over to that. What do they say? Say something enough and you self prophesize? Please, by saying someone is on the bandwagon or panicking, you are making them feel unheard, unvalidated (yeah I made up that word, leave me alone), disbelieved and put down. I don't care if they ARE panicked. That is the wrong way of approaching a situation. You'll find if you show people that you are listening and truly, truly considering what they believe (even if its wrong) ... then they'll most often relax, take a breath and then turn and listen to you. It may take time and you may have to be patient ... these people have been through a lot and have been frustrated by others. Wolfy [Posted in FML 7416]