Thailand: Long Neck and Ethics

Here is an ethical dilema/question for you photographers. Women of the Padaung Long Neck people along the Thai Burma border have worn these ornamental brass rings for centuries. The reasons for this practice have been lost for generations. Was it for beauty, or was it to make them too ugly for slave traders? Whatever the origin, one of the main reasons it seems to continue today is tourism. Their villages along the border have become a magnet to tour groups in the last ten years as the tribes have fled persecution in Burma. Would this custom quickly die out if photographers and tourists did not pay to tour the villages? Are we perpetuating a custom that does have health consequences for the wearer?

(Both images 70-200 IS lens, 1/500 sec, f2.8 ISO 100)