When I was young, I was browsing one of my dad's medical dictionaries and I came across the term 'Polydactyly' -- essentially being born with an extra finger, t

When I was young, I was browsing one of my dad's medical dictionaries and I came across the term 'Polydactyly' -- essentially being born with an extra finger, typically removed shortly after birth. In most cases it's not usable but there are many cases where the extra digit functions just fine. It blew my mind that the accepted reaction was to just cut it off. Perhaps there are advantages to having an extra finger.. what if 4 fingers was the norm and the 5th finger was cut off? I think that any kind of tampering to 'take away' any part of a person without their informed consent is unethical (unless the removed component is likely to be problematic in some way, as in the case of unusable extra fingers that may be cause pain or cramping of the other fingers). But at the same time I acknowledge that some practices I disagree with are so ingrained in cultures that they're not even questioned. For those of you who are male and circumcised, think about this: If you hadn't been, would you choose to have it done now? Are you glad it was done at birth? I (like I assume most men) absolutely would NOT be able to bring myself to go through with it now, but at the same time, since there's good evidence to suggest it's a largely unnecessary procedure with very limited benefit, and a measurable downside as well, my own opinion is that it shouldn't really be performed at all (someone else mentioned genital mutilation -- this is a form of it). Deaf parents who want to rob their child of its sense of hearing so he or she will be more like them are probably not so different from my Jewish parents. When framed this way I'm sure it's likely to divide a lot more people though.