>Nancy VonStein (nvonst…@cc.memphis.edu) wrote:
>: There was an article posted here about a month ago about the collection
>: of Premarin.  I thought I had kept it but can’t find it now.  If anyone
>: can send me that article, I would appreciate it greatly.

>I heard the horror story second-hand. It’s made from mares’ urine and the
>poor things are kept in cages in Canada, yes? I’d appreciate a re-post if
>anyone could oblige.

——————————————————
Subject: PETA Article On Abuse of Horses To Produce Premarin

Premarin stands for PREgnant MARes UrINe.

————————– Message Contents ——————————     –

Taken from PETA’s "Premarin Menopause Drug Nightmare" brochure.

As the "Baby Boomer" generation matures, and more and more women find
themselves undergoing "The change of life," many will be advised by
their doctors to take an estrogen replacement drug to alleviate
menopausal symptoms.  But the drug most commonly prescribed has at
least one ugly side effect: cruelty.

The drug is Premarin, an estrogen substitute extracted from the urine
of pregnant mares.  It is routinely prescribed for women who have had
hysterectomies or are experiencing menopausal symptoms, and also for
post-menopausal women to prevent osteoporosis and heart disease.  With
an estimated eight million women currently taking the drug, and some
43,000,000 women entering menopause,, the pregnant mare urine (PMU)
industry is booming.

While this spells profits for Canada-based Ayerst Organics, Inc., the
world’s only producer of PMU, it also spells misery and death for
hundreds of thousands of horses and foals.

To produce the drug, mares are impregnated, then catheterized or fitted
with a rubber collection cup attached to a hose.  Because allowing
mares out to pasture would mean losing some of their precious urine,
they are forced to stand on concrete floors in stalls measuring just 8
feet long and 3.5 to 5 feet wide for most of their 11-month
pregnancies.

For more than half the year — from September to April — the mares
are unable to take more than a step in any direction, the narrowness
of their stall preventing even such simple movements ads turning
around or lying down properly.  Farmers who have leased their horses
to PMU facilities report mares returning crippled and in poor health,
and one former farm employee documented several deaths on the Manitoba
farm where he worked.

After giving birth, the mares are allowed only 2 months to pasture
with their foals, during which time they are reimpregnated, then
separated from their babies, and put back on the production line.

Like calves taken away from their "dairy cow" mothers to be raised for
veal, the mares’ foals are merely a "by-product" of PMU production.
Some are killed immediately, others are kept as replacements for
worn-out mares or to expand production;  the majority are sold when
they are about four months old, sent to feedlots to be fattened, and
then slaughtered.

The cruelty of the PMU industry has caused an outcry from North
Americans, including animal rights activists and women’s groups.
Problems with the manufacturing process, especially the disposal of
its foul-smelling waste products, worry Canadian environmentalists
and legislators.  Proposed expansion at Ayerst’s Manitoba production
facility threatens to overwhelm and already taxed sewage treatment
system.  In addition, according to Marianne Cerilli, member of the
Legislative Assembly and Environment Critic for the Canadian New
Democratic Party, the expansion has "serious consequences for the
Assinboine River, a river that many Manitobans use as a drinking water
source."  Hormone therapy itself is coming under increasing scrutiny
because of possible health risks.  Studies have shown that women on
hormone replacement drugs have an increased risk of gall bladder
disease and endometrial and breast cancers and suffer a range of side
effects, such as water retention, cramps, and headaches.

Since synthetic estrogen can now be manufactured inexpensively,
collecting PMU is an antiquated method of producing estrogen.
Premarin is the only menopause drug still made with animal-derived
estrogen, and other synthetic estrogens, such as Estradiol
Transdermal System, Estradiol tablets, Estropipate, and Estone, are
equally effective.

In response to Canadian animal protectionists, who were success ful in
shutting down the PMU industry in Ontario during the 1970’s, the
industry devised a Recommended Code of Practice, which outlines basic
care for horses used for urine production.  However, this code merely
contains recommendations — no farmer is required to follow them —
and even these basic standards are so weak they fail to provide
horses with even minimal protection.

In 1993, an estimated 75,000 mares on 485 farms throughout Canada and
North Dakota were confined for urine collection, giving birth to as
many as 90,000 foals — and the number may triple in the next few
years if women continue to want non-synthetic treatments.  Already,
another 1,200 farms have applied to produce PMU, for which they are
paid up to $17 a gallon.  Ayerst is preparing for a $100 million
expansion of its facilities in Manitoba with the aid of $20 million
form the Canadian government.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=

- Write a simple letter to a health/women’s magazine and your local
paper explaining how mare’s urine is acquired an that there are safe
synthetics available.

- Because of th possible health risks associated with hormone
replacement, women who are candidates for this therapy may want to
investigate natural alternatives.  Osteoporosis and heart disease can
be prevented with a low-fat vegan (no animal products) diet, and
milder, less potent plant forms of estrogen exist naturally in such
foods as tofu, berries, and citrus fruits.  Those who opt for hormone
replacement therapy can ask their doctors to prescribe one of the
synthetic estrogens.

- Boycott Ayerst’s parent company, American Home Products / Whitehall
Laboratories, manufacturer of Dristan, Advil, Chef Boyardee, and many
other products.  Also, write to Robert Essner, President, Wyeth-Ayerst
Laboratories, P.O. Box 8299, Philadelphia, P.A. 19101, 215-971-5823 to
voice your protest.

- Write to the Manitoba government (The Honourable Hananne Cerilli,
Room 234, Legislative Building, Winnipeg, Manitoba R3C 0V8, Canada,
204-945-1567), protesting their funding of Ayerst’s expansion and
telling them you will not visit the province as long as it continues
to fund cruelty to horses.

-You can also send away to PETA (P.O. Box 42516, Washington, DC 20015,
(301) 770-PETA ) for copies of the brochure that this information was
taken from to help spread the news (the brochure also includes
information on natural approaches to hormone shifts and synthetic
hormones).

——————–End Original Message—————————-

Further suggestion:

-Call Women’s International Pharamacy at (800) 279-5708 for
alternative natural estrogen cream (Tri-Est) balanced to protect
against breast cancer.  Testosterone gel and natural progesterone
also available.

———————————————————————-

Date:    Sat, 16 Jul 1994 10:31:19 +0000
From:    Michael Traub <tr…@BTCS.BT.CO.UK>
Subject: Horse Urine and Hot Flashes (fwd)

The following article appeared in the June 1994 (Volume
1, Number 2) issue of Bulletin, a publication of the
Animal Protection Institute (API). For further
information about API, call 1-800-348-7387.
===========================================
Horse Urine and Hot Flashes

As many as 90,000 foals a year are slaughtered because
they are the unwanted "by-product" of a multi-million-
dollar drug industry. The foals’ mothers endure a bleak
life on a production line for most of their pregnant
months.

That’s what API found out when it investigated
conditions on farms that supply one drug company with
the urine of pregnant mares. The urine is used by
Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories to manufacture Premarin, an
estrogen (hormone) replacement drug used by millions of
post-menopausal women.

In the pregnant mare urine (PMU) industry, this abuse
of the mares and their foals is overshadowed by the
huge profits to be made. In 1992, sales of Premarin
amount to $642 million, accounting for 14 percent of
Wyeth-Ayerst’s $4.5 billion revenue.

Five hundred PMU farms in North Dakota and Manitoba
(Canada) supply the urine for Wyeth-Ayerst’s processing
plant in Brandon, Manitoba. The farms average 300
horses each.

Four months into her pregnancy, the mare is brought
into a stall and fitted with a catheter or a collection
cup. (A cup attached to the catheter collects her
urine.) This is how she will spend the next 7 months.

So that her urine will be as concentrated as possible,
she receives only 5 gallons of water per day. (Up to
$17 per gallon will be paid for the urine.) Normal
water intake for a horse is 12 to 15 gallons per day;
pregnant horses usually require more.

After the mare gives birth in late March or early
April, she will have two months with her foal to wean
it. Then she is impregnated again. Her foal is sold to
the slaughterhouse. (Only a handful of the foals are
spared slaughter.) By September, the mare is back in
her stall and on the catheter.

On the worst farms, the stalls are so narrow the mares
can’t turn around or lie down. Dr. Marc W. Deitch,
Wyeth-Ayerst’s Vice President, Medical Affairs and
Medical Director, has apparently never seen nor heard
of the worst farms. "Horses are in now way mistreated,"
says his form-letter response to all queries about the
abuse of the pregnant mares. "The farmers provide
temperature-controlled stalls that are large enough for
the mares to move about and lie down comfortably."

On the worst farms, the mare wears a catheter and a
collection cup. Not so, maintains Dr. Deitch: "The
…

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