should pet breeds with health issues be banned?

[dead0man]

NH may ban breeds with known breathing issues

A bill to ban the breeding of dogs with known breathing issues was introduced in the New Hampshire State House.

Animal rights groups said it would be the first of its kind in the country.
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Rep. Ellen Read of Newmarket introduced HB1102, which aims to set healthier breading standards for animals like dogs and cats.

"These animals originally had fairly healthy conformations. It's only because of breeders and breed registries pursuing this ever more extreme conformation standard because it's cute or desirable," Read said.

French and English bulldogs, boxers, pugs, Boston terriers and Persian cats face similar health issues, and Read said she wants to see breeders avoid them because of the negative health effects associated with the structure of their faces.

I'm not sure where I fall on this, but it makes more sense than banning breeds for being violent.

[Del Tachi]

Animal breeding has always been part art, part science.  This bill would seem to have a chilling effect on responsible breeders, which would be bad for animal health/welfare in the long-run. 

It should be noted that, despite what's implied in the article, this legislation is not breed-specific.  It would open up any breeder to criminal prosecution based only on a dog's phenotype.  There is no scientific standard for which phenotypes constitute a detrimental "birth deformity."

[bagelman]

This might be a good idea. What we really need to do is ban the breeding of pits, and destroy the puppy mills rampant in Missouri.

[fhtagn]

I don't think breeding them should be banned, but stricter regulations to ensure breeders are regularly getting health checks and performing genetic testing prior to their dog's being bred, and possibly mandatory spaying/neutering for dogs that don't meet certain health requirements would go a longer way to improve the breeds affected rather than legislating them out of existence.

[Reactionary Libertarian]

Absolutely. Breeding animals like pugs is animal cruelty. Even healthy breeds are still less healthy than mutts, so I don’t mind if some good-faith breeders get caught in the crossfire. Not a fan of dog breeding in general, unless it’s for working or hunting purposes. But breeding dogs with serious health issues because people like the look is just evil.