Think that only chickens and pigs are battery farmed? Think again. Horse battery farms (known in the industry as “Pee Farms”) are a barbaric and relatively unknown part of Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT).

That’s right, if you are currently taking Estrogen you may be contributing to this cruel and unnecessary act.

For more than 40 years Premarin was the drug of choice for HRT in the US, Doctors filled out more than 9 million prescriptions. 10,12

Premarin, Prempro (Premia), Premphase, Prempac and Premelle (produced by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals) are manufactured from horse waste, more specifically Pregnant Mares’ Urine (PMU).

Premarin and its sister drug Prempro (relabelled as Premia in Australia) are the two most popular HRT products on the market at the moment - used each day by over 6 million women. Premarin contains conjugated Estrogens (for women who have had a hysterectomy) and Prempro (for women who have not had a hysterectomy) contains a combination of Estrogens and a Progestin. These are available in patches, creams and pills.

In Canada and North Dakota over 400 ranches house thousands of pregnant mares, chained in stalls, same are unable to walk more than 1 step forward or backwards let alone turn around. 1,2

Most of these animals are strapped to collection devices 24/7 for a majority of their pregnacies, so are unable to lie down comfortably 2,3,4

Too often these bags are tight and the stalls are made deliberately narrow to prevent the mares laying down and detaching their collection bags, so the mares are forced to stand for most of their 11month pregnancies in extremely unhygienic conditions. 10

So what happens to the tens of thousands of foals delivered by the mares? Most of them are slaughtered; those who are not are kept to become PMU mares themselves. Only a handful are rescued by adoption agencies. 10

One worker from a PMU farm confirmed this awful fate: “See, the foals—and the mares which [sic] can’t get pregnant any more—they are the byproduct of the PMU industry. ... We crush ’em and recycle ’em, just like [aluminium] cans.” 2,5

A Canadian horsemeat exporter, said that the PMU industry is his “biggest source of supply” to the export meat industry in Canada. 2,6

The worse part of all is that there is NO official body which regulates the PMU industry, so farmers are free to treat their mares however they want. 2,10

The North American Equine Ranching Information Council (NAERIC) has issued a set of “guidelines” for the keeping of these horses, but participation is only voluntary. 2,10

These guidelines offer no real protection for these animals and are clearly just a means of placating the public.

It’s not only the atrocious condition in which the horses live which is of concern. On July 9, 2002, the Data and Safety Monitoring Board recommended stopping the trial of Prempro which was part of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI) - a series of government studies of more than 160,000 healthy postmenopausal women. 11

The study found that Prempro raised the risk of stroke in women by a massive 41% and the risk of heart attack by 29%. It was hoped that Prempro would guard against heart disease, but this was not the case. 2,7,9

The WHI also found that Prempro has no meaningful effects on women’s physical or emotional health, pain levels, memory, sleeping patterns, or energy levels. Rresearchers concluded that Prempro is effective for short-term relief from hot flashes but nothing else. 2,8

Dr. Jennifer Hays from the Baylor College of Medicine commented, “The average woman will not experience an improvement in her quality of life by taking this pill.” 2,8

Two years later in February 2004, the WHI also prematurely halted the Estrogen only (Premarin) arm of the trial. The scientific paper was published online by the American Heart Association, it conluded that: " CEE [Conjugated Equine Estrogen] increases the risk of ischemic stroke in generally healthy postmenopausal women. The excess risk appeared to be present in all subgroups of women examined, including younger and more recently menopausal women." 14 This study also found an increased risk of venous thromboembolism especially within the first two years.14 The study concluded that “Estrogen plus progestin [Premia/Prempro] was associated with doubling the risk of venous thrombosis 15

Wyeth promote Premarin as a natural HRT drug but a landmark government study found that Wyeth's Premarin and Prempro drugs pose grave health risks to menopausal women. 7,9,11

Wyeth will tell you that Premarin is safe and point out that it guards against cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease; however there are a multitude of texts contradicting their claims. Remember that the WHI studies into both Premarin and Prempro were halted by the Data and Safety Monitoring Board when it was decided that the “overall health risks exceeded benefits.” 11

We are by no means telling people to boycott HRT (we are not Doctors, just concerned citizens) just to find kinder and more sustainable alternatives. There are many plant based products on the market which work just as well, if not better, than Premarin and often cost less. Your Doctor and Pharmacist will be more than happy to chat with you about alternative medication.

Please join us in our fight against animal abuse. If you are currently seeking Hormone Replacement Therapy, ask your physician to prescribe one of the many safe and effective plant-based alternatives (containing Phytoestrogens) that are available. For every 150 women who stop taking Premarin, one mare is spared from the “pee line” and seven or eight “byproduct” foals will not be slaughtered for their meat. 10

Tell as many people as you can about the tragic lives which these wonderful animals live.

Write to Wyeth Pharmaceuticals and tell them to stop this horrible waste of life. Avoid the Wyeth products “Centrum, Adril, Chapstick, Dimetapp and Caltrate.
For more information please visit the “How Can I Help?” page.

For other interesting articles visit:

• www.peta.com/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=73
• www.uan.org/index.cfm?navId=75
• www.pmurescue.org/about_pmu.php
• www.medaus.com/p/333.html
• www.lef.org/magazine/mag2002/dec2002_cover_premarin_01.html
• www.fda.gov/CDER/DRUG/safety/WHI_statement.htm
• www.circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/113/20/2425

 

References

1) Robin Gaby Fisher, “Hormone Roundup: Manitoba Is Biggest Producer of Horse Urine to Make Hormone-Replacement Drugs,” Newhouse News Service, 12 Aug. 2002.
2) www.peta.com/mc/factsheet_display.asp?ID=73
3) Frances Russell, “Wall of Silence Hides PMU Industry,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 Jun. 1995.
4) American Association of Equine Practitioners, “AAEP Officials Inspect PMU Farms,” AAEP Report, Jul. 1995.
5) David Jones, “The Price of a Wonder Drug. What Happens When the Medical Men Have Got What They Came for,” Today, 17 Jan. 1995.
6) Barb Grinder, “Horse Plant Diversifies Into Specialty Livestock,” The Western Producer, 28 Nov. 1996
7) www.fda.gov/CDER/DRUG/safety/WHI_statement.htm
8) “More Findings Against Long-Term Hormone Therapy,” CNN.com, 17 Mar. 2003.
9) www.lef.org/magazine/mag2002/dec2002_cover_premarin_01.html
10) www.uan.org/index.cfm?navId=75
11) jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/288/3/321
12) www.pmurescue.org/about_pmu.php
13) www.medaus.com/p/333.htm
14) www.circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/113/20/2425
15) jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/abstract/292/13/1573