Premarin from PMU Mares
PMU which stands for Pregnant Mare Urine is also called Premarin. Several well-known Hormone Replacement Therapy drugs use this ingredient, which is estrogen, to assist women in managing menopause and its symptoms. This drug has been around for over 6 decades and has cost the lives of thousands, if not millions, of horses.
The latest news that HRT does more harm than good for women during this stage of their lives has lessened the demand for PMU. But the drug manufacturer Wyeth, which was the sole dispenser of PMU for most of those many years, has a new low-dose premarin product that is currently up for approval. If approved this will sentence even more horses to a miserable life and a horrific death after their service to mankind is completed.
A life of a PMU mare is short and nothing even close to normal. Impregnated year after year they are taken in when 6 months along in the pregnancy to stand in a “Pee-line”. With a catheter attached to their urethra, their tails tethered so they cannot inadvertently remove this catheter, heads tied high and tight they cannot lie down, turn around or groom themselves. Water is withheld to concentrate the urine. Normal gestation for a mare is 11 months and thusly these animals exist like this for five long months. While not in the “pee-line” they are often kept in crowded and less than stellar conditions. Of course becoming pregnant again as soon as they give birth.
The lack of water often causes kidney disease. The lack of movement causes untold pain and suffering for an animal that is designed to graze and wander. They lead miserable, short lives and are then sent to slaughter when they no longer produce enough to make it worth the time to string them up or can no longer sustain a pregnancy.
And what becomes of their foals year after year? Many of them are just shipped off to slaughter. PMU farms have no interest in bothering with anything that does not make them money. Although some farms in recent years have offered their horses for sale through equine sale brokers/ auctions and clearing houses – unfortunately far too many PMU mares still find their way to slaughter.
Several rescue groups do intervene and save some of the foals and mares before they are slaughtered but the fact remains that estrogen from mares is no longer necessary. I repeat – estrogen from horses is no longer necessary.
There are alternatives, synthetic estrogens, which not only save horses from such an inhumane existence but are also safer for the women who must take HRT to improve the quality of their own lives. Better lives for women and better lives for horses so why do PMU farms still exist? Money – of course. It is cheaper for the manufacturers to continue to use and abuse horses than it is to switch the production to the synthetic hormones.
So now that you know where your HRT drugs come from (and if you have any doubts break open one of the pills and all of your doubts will fade away into the distinct smell of horse urine) what can you and all women do to help save the lives of these noble creatures? Very easy – when faced with the decision with regard to hormone replacement simply ask for a prescription that is made with synthetic estrogen and make sure you tell your doctors your reasons for such a request – better for you, better for the horse and better for the whole world – we must stop abusing animals for our own needs and desires.
The latest news that HRT does more harm than good for women during this stage of their lives has lessened the demand for PMU. But the drug manufacturer Wyeth, which was the sole dispenser of PMU for most of those many years, has a new low-dose premarin product that is currently up for approval. If approved this will sentence even more horses to a miserable life and a horrific death after their service to mankind is completed.
A life of a PMU mare is short and nothing even close to normal. Impregnated year after year they are taken in when 6 months along in the pregnancy to stand in a “Pee-line”. With a catheter attached to their urethra, their tails tethered so they cannot inadvertently remove this catheter, heads tied high and tight they cannot lie down, turn around or groom themselves. Water is withheld to concentrate the urine. Normal gestation for a mare is 11 months and thusly these animals exist like this for five long months. While not in the “pee-line” they are often kept in crowded and less than stellar conditions. Of course becoming pregnant again as soon as they give birth.
The lack of water often causes kidney disease. The lack of movement causes untold pain and suffering for an animal that is designed to graze and wander. They lead miserable, short lives and are then sent to slaughter when they no longer produce enough to make it worth the time to string them up or can no longer sustain a pregnancy.
And what becomes of their foals year after year? Many of them are just shipped off to slaughter. PMU farms have no interest in bothering with anything that does not make them money. Although some farms in recent years have offered their horses for sale through equine sale brokers/ auctions and clearing houses – unfortunately far too many PMU mares still find their way to slaughter.
Several rescue groups do intervene and save some of the foals and mares before they are slaughtered but the fact remains that estrogen from mares is no longer necessary. I repeat – estrogen from horses is no longer necessary.
There are alternatives, synthetic estrogens, which not only save horses from such an inhumane existence but are also safer for the women who must take HRT to improve the quality of their own lives. Better lives for women and better lives for horses so why do PMU farms still exist? Money – of course. It is cheaper for the manufacturers to continue to use and abuse horses than it is to switch the production to the synthetic hormones.
So now that you know where your HRT drugs come from (and if you have any doubts break open one of the pills and all of your doubts will fade away into the distinct smell of horse urine) what can you and all women do to help save the lives of these noble creatures? Very easy – when faced with the decision with regard to hormone replacement simply ask for a prescription that is made with synthetic estrogen and make sure you tell your doctors your reasons for such a request – better for you, better for the horse and better for the whole world – we must stop abusing animals for our own needs and desires.
Related Articles
Editor's Picks Articles
Top Ten Articles
Previous Features
Site Map
Follow @WildlifeWelfare
Tweet
Content copyright © 2023 by Susan Hopf. All rights reserved.
This content was written by Susan Hopf. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission. Contact Deb Duxbury for details.