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This factsheet was completed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) . Please direct any questions or comments to PETA directly at 757-622-7382 or info@peta.org.
Premarin: A Prescription for Cruelty

Every year, doctors prescribe hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to millions of women suffering from menopausal symptoms. One of the most widely prescribed drugs for HRT is made from animal waste. The drug is Premarin, an estrogen-therapy drug manufactured by Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which also produces Prempro, an estrogen/progestin combination. Both drugs contain horse urine, specifically pregnant mares' urine (PMU). This form of HRT has proved to be dangerous to humans, but the horses raised for their urine are kept confined and pregnant. Their foals often end up in the slaughterhouse.

Where Premarin Comes From
More than 400 ranches in remote areas of North Dakota and Canada house thousands of pregnant mares who produce urine for Premarin and similar HRT drugs.(1) For six months of their pregnancies, these horses are confined to PMU stalls so small that the mares cannot turn around or take more than one step in any direction. The animals must wear rubber urine-collection bags at all times, which cause chafing and lesions, and their drinking water is limited so that their urine will yield more concentrated estrogen.(2,3)

PMU ranchers are only expected to follow the “Recommended Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Horses in PMU Operations,” a document produced by a “study committee” that included a Wyeth representative, on a voluntary basis. The document states that horses may be allowed only “as much exercise as is necessary for their welfare,” leaving the exact amount open to interpretation.(4) One PMU farmer in Alberta claims that horses can “exercise in the stall … they can lay down, move ahead, back up, [and] go sideways.”(5) Some farmers admit to exercising their horses as little as once every three or four weeks. When questioned about horses’ need for exercise, a Wyeth-Ayerst spokesperson flippantly replied, “Some horses are active, some are couch potatoes.”(6)

The Fate of the Foals
The fate of the tens of thousands of foals born on PMU farms each year—who are considered industry “byproducts”—is equally disturbing.(7) Some are used to replace their exhausted mothers, many of whom have been confined to PMU farms for many years. Most of the remaining foals, along with worn-out mares, are sold to “kill buyers,” fattened, and slaughtered. One PMU industry insider says, “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 [aluminum] cans.”(8) Another lamented, “We have no choice. We can’t afford to keep up the foals during the winter, and there’s not enough of a market for the little ones up here.”(9) Claude Bouvry, a Canadian horsemeat exporter, told The Western Producer that the PMU industry is his “biggest source of supply.” Without the overseas demand for horsemeat, Bouvry says, there would be no market for the foals born on PMU farms.(10)

Risks Outweigh Any Benefits
In 2002, the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI), a study of more than 16,000 women using Prempro, was abruptly halted by the federal government after it concluded that HRT raises a woman’s risk of stroke by 41 percent, heart attack by 29 percent, and breast cancer by 26 percent. Dr. Claude Lenfant, director of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, which sponsored the study, said the cardiovascular and cancer risks were “too high a price to pay” and urged women who want to ward off heart disease to “focus on well-proven treatments” instead, such as controlling blood cholesterol and keeping their weight down.(11)

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. The researchers concluded that Prempro is effective for short-term relief from hot flashes but nothing else. Many women find that they can control hot flashes and other menopausal symptoms by making easy lifestyle changes—like eating a low-fat vegetarian diet and getting regular exercise—rather than contributing to animal suffering. 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.”(12)

What You Can Do
If your doctor prescribes HRT, discuss your options and ask for one of the many humane alternatives to Premarin, such as hormone-replacement tablets made from plant-derived estrogens called phytoestrogens.(13) Other herbal-based, over-the-counter remedies are also are available. For a list of alternatives, call 1-800-KNOW-PMU, or visit MenopauseOnline.com.

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) Frances Russell, “Wall of Silence Hides PMU Industry,” Winnipeg Free Press, 25 Jun. 1995.
(3) American Association of Equine Practitioners, “AAEP Officials Inspect PMU Farms,” AAEP Report, Jul. 1995.
(4) Manitoba Department of Agriculture, “Recommended Code of Practice for the Care and Handling of Horses in PMU Operations,” 1 Jun. 1990.
(5) Don Thomas, “Horse Urine Farms Scrutinized,” The Edmonton Journal, 18 Mar. 1995.
(6) Russell.
(7) “Ramona Woman Saves Horses From Slaughter,” The San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Apr. 2004.
(8) David Jones, “The Price of a Wonder Drug. What Happens When the Medical Men Have Got What They Came for,” Today, 17 Jan. 1995.
(9) “Hot Flashes, Wyeth-Ayerst’s Menopause Drug Premarin Is Now America’s Most Prescribed,” Philadelphia Magazine, Dec. 1998.
(10) Barb Grinder, “Horse Plant Diversifies Into Specialty Livestock,” The Western Producer, 28 Nov. 1996.
(11) Charlene Laino, “Due to Risks, Hormone Trial Halted,” MSNBC, 9 Jul. 2002.
(12) “More Findings Against Long-Term Hormone Therapy,” CNN.com, 17 Mar. 2003.
(13) Ransdell Pierson and Jed Seltzer, “Plant-Derived Estrogen Wins FDA Approval,” Reuters, 11 May 2004.