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What is a PMU foal?
It is the best kept secret, many people simply don't know even though it has
been around since 1942!
Born to Die? For what good?
by Kym ní Dhoireann
There are major concerns to face about Premarin® (PREgnant MARes' uRINe ---
includes Premarin, PremPro, PremPhase, PremPac-C all from Wyeth-Ayerst
Laboratories), one primarily addressed here since this is an equine awareness
page,
is the cruelty involved in the production of it. The other are the risks
involved to the
millions of women and transsexuals taking it. This drug is the most prescribed
drug in
the US. It is almost a given that this is the drug you will be prescribed
when you start
menopause or have a hysterectomy (and what is not as discussed on many anti-PMU
sites but a search on the web has pointed out to me, Premarin is also what many
male-to-female transsexuals are given) despite all the other humane and much
safer
alternatives. And the tragedy is that most people, including medical
professionals, do
not know the circumstances around the production...or they don't care.
The Horses
Premarin is made from the urine of pregnant mares, who are tied in stalls unable
to lie
down (and YES horses do need to lie down, some sleep stages are done standing
others lying for full rest a horse must lie down), get no exercise, have reduced
water
consumption (makes the urine more concentrated) for six months. This leaves them
unhealthy, covered with sores and with infections and drastically shortens their
lives.
They are taken off line to give birth and in some cases the foal is weaned
dangerously
early (if allowed to nurse at all) so the mare can be brought back into season
and
bred again. The average life span of a PMU farm mare is 8-9 years, compared to
20-30 (sometimes more) that is more typical of a horse. And at the end of
production
the mares are sent to slaughter as well...often with their last foals at their
side.
Every time a mare is pregnant there is a foal, these foals are a "waste product"
to the
urine farmers (there is an exception, but a very, very small one of one or two
farms
that raise horses and sell the urine as an extra.....these farms raise their
quality foals,
although it is unclear if "lower quality" ones meet the same fate as those from
the
other farms....at least this is a rumor, I do not know for sure if these farms
really exist).
We are talking around 40,000 to 50,000 foals a year from US and Canada (number
would be higher, but there is a higher than normal mortality rate among these
foals,
usually due to exposure or starvation). They are sent to feed lots and then to
Canadian auctions that cater almost exclusively to the horse meat trade to be
sent
mostly to Europe and Japan.
The Drug and You
Premarin is marketed as an "organic" or "natural" estrogen...well, yeah it's
natural, if
you're a pregnant mare! But mares have a multitude of estrogens that humans do
not
have, do not need, and can potentially be harmed by.
The risks involved include
but are not limited to increase in breast cancer, uterine cancer, stroke and abnormal
blood
clotting which can lead to death, gall bladder disease, rising in blood
pressure,
gastrointestinal problems, dementia, memory loss. Personally, as a soon-to-be menopausal
(possibly perimenopausal as of recently) woman those risks seem too high for
me...if it
were the only replacement therapy you couldn't pay me to take the stuff.
But it isn't the only option, there are alternatives! Safer for you, for the
horses, and
for the environment (you think that processing all that urine is without
waste?). These
alternatives are "synthetic" although many are made from plant estrogens and
most
more closely replicate the human hormones you are replacing than Premarin can.
If you are menopausal, post-hysterectomy, or transsexual and you are on Premarin,
please, consider contacting your doctor immediately to change your therapy. If
you
aren't convinced that you are swallowing horse urine (and you are not alone, a
woman
told me, a nurse who was on Premarin had no idea how it was made, your doctor
might not even know!) then crush one of your pills and sniff it. Yup, that's
what it is all
right! You'll smell it. Talk to your doctor, make sure s/he knows that you do
not
approve of the torture and death involved.
If you are on or considering Premarin please discuss alternatives with your
doctor and
SWITCH! If you are making plans to go on hormones for menopause or transsexual
development but haven't yet, please go on one of the alternatives...for the
horses and
for your health! You may wish to get copies of Premarin: Rx for Cruelty from UAN
or
Premarin® Exposed from the ASPCA or other information to give to your doctor,
amazing as it seems most health care practitioners just never consider this
issue or for
that matter KNOW how Premarin is made. UAN also offers a video "Look in their
Eyes"
for a donation of $15 ($12 for members). UAN has a button campaign "I've
Switched"
for those who have and "Make the Switch" for those who never started it....let
the
world know the choice you made.
UAN, The Truth about Premarin and Premarin.org have a LOT more ideas and
information, please click here to visit them.
What about saving the horses?
There is some debate over the buying and adopting out of PMU foals, which must
be
considered. The foals are sold for slaughter by the farmers, for extra profit,
some are
sold as riding prospects...but remember that this still represents a large glut
on the
horse population and there are not enough homes out there. By buying them we end
up taking apart in giving profit to the PMU system is the thought. But then
again
someone will buy them, the slaughter house buyers! So while some say we
shouldn't, I
still feel that while we have this problem as many that are kept from slaughter
should
be. (I am looking into adopting a foal when I am able but I pray that this will
stop before
then and I will need to look elsewhere, or at the very least will adopt from the
very last
PMU foals and mares)
But the ONLY way to really save these horses is to stop production of Premarin
NOW.
And the only way to do that is for everyone on it or who will be put on it to
refuse to
take it. Remember there is no reason for this drug, there ARE safer, more humane
alternatives.
The pro-PMU farm people say that if we stop Premarin production there will be
tens of
thousands of mares sent to slaughter. Well, where do they think those mares end
up
by the time they are 9 years old?! With the tens of thousands of foals killed
EVERY
YEAR and the tens of thousands of future mares facing 8-9 years of torture
before
they go to slaughter. If these mares are taken off line and end up in the
auctions we
will save as many as we can and NO MORE PMU foals or retired mares will follow.