Abuse or Adornment?

[Thorne]

I came across this article (http://www.timesleader.com/news/Pier...All=Y#comments) today and it reminded me of this thread.

It's interesting to note some of the more bizarre suggestions by obvious animal lovers who would just love to have a few minutes alone with the woman involved. It's a sad state of affairs when people are more concerned about the supposed well-being of some kittens than they are about the well-being of another human being. It would be interesting to know how many of these animal lovers have also had their own child's ear pierced.

And for the record, I do not condone the idea of piercing an animal's ears for decorative purposes. But I don't see it as any different than having a kitten declawed, or a pet spayed or neutered. These things are done more for our benefit than for the animal's. But I don't think the woman deserves to be treated worse than the animals!

[alwaysfallingforward]

I am a licensed piercer, and mall piercing kiosks especially for young children are absolutely deplorable. The people who do it are rarely licensed (or certified) most training takes less than two weeks.
The actual conditions are terrible and few wear gloves. It's impossible to sterilize a piercing gun even in an autoclave. Plus they only rub it down with alcohol. No one is trained in dealing with blood borne pathogens or even infection control. It also causes trauma to the tissue in the ear.
I don't even want to get started on the cartilage piercings in the mall (which with a gun it can literally shatter all the cartilage).
I personally don't believe infants should have their ears pierced either (especially at a mall) because not only are they unable to communicate if something feels wrong or otherwise.
I know in some places it is a cultural thing, where they do it as soon as the child is born.