THE HORSES
Premarin horses (or PMU horses) are the mares and foals cruelly exploited to produce the Premarin® family of drugs made for the relief of menopausal symptoms in women.
The key component of these drugs comes from the estrogen rich urine collected from pregnant mares on what are commonly called “pee lines” in the industry.
PMU horses are purpose bred to produce Premarin® type drugs.
The resulting foals become unwanted byproducts and typically sold off at auction where they are in danger of being bought by “meat men” working on behalf of slaughterhouses. Some of these foals are shipped live to Japan to feed the highly popular sushi market.
Mares who can no longer become pregnant are also routinely cast off by the industry and exposed to the risk of slaughter.
HOW YOU HELPED
In 2016 Horse Fund advocates and Tuesday’s Horse followers took more action and viewed and shared more articles and information on the Premarin® Horses issue than any other we work on.
You alerted us whenever you saw ads for Premarin® tablets or cream on television, in magazines and on YouTube. We contacted the advertisers and these ads were removed or not renewed, rarely appearing again. If they did resurface, you were on it and so were we.
DEAR DOCTOR LETTERS
The scientific term for the estrogen rich component contained in pregnant mare’s urine is conjugated equine estrogens (CEE’s).
With your help we were able to send out more than 33,000 Dear Doctor letters in 2016 warning physicians about the presence of CEE’s in the Premarin® family of drugs.
MISLEADING LABELING
A bone of contention between us and certain doctors arose over labeling.
Notably, some years ago the word equine was removed from Premarin® packaging stating the drugs were made with conjugated estrogens.
This was done in spite of the fact that the World Health Organization declared that conjugated equine estrogens are known carcinogens — in other words they have cancer causing properties. In our opinion the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in this regard are operating in a dangerous and immoral manner by allowing the mislabeling of Premarin® in this way.
Conjugated estrogens can also be derived from plants. The core ingredient necessary to make Premarin® can only be derived from equines.
Yet there were doctors who continued to argue this point with us and said they had no problem prescribing Premarin®. In contradictory fashion some doctors even went so far as to defend the labeling stating that the FDA would not be so reckless with people’s lives.
However, it is crystal clear.
The key ingredient in the making of Premarin® type drugs is derived from pregnant mare’s urine. All you need to do is look at the name for proof — PREgnant MARe’s urINe.
We are pressing hard for the FDA to enforce correct labeling and will continue to do so. However in the current political climate it is likely to be tougher than ever.
By the way the Premarin® family of drugs includes Duavee® (originally named Aprela in all by the final stage of the FDA’s approval process) is an almost identical drug also made by Pfizer. But for reasons unknown they have marketed it very little in the US or abroad.
The largest market for Premarin® type drugs from available information is in China where they are producing what appears to be a copycat drug.
PMU HORSES IN CHINA
In 2012 Jane Allin performed her own independent research and discovered that there are indeed PMU horses in China. The use of the horses by the Chinese in this instance make their intent clear. See Pfizer consigns PMU horses to killing fields of Asia (Tuesday’s Horse).
It was not until 2016 we were able to show you what it looks like inside a “pee farm” in China. See A look at a PMU farm in China (Tuesday’s Horse). Here are a couple of images from that collection.
The Xinjiang Xinzi Biopharmaceutical Limited Liability Company reportedly uses the urine of pregnant mares as the source to successfully develop estrogen drugs, claiming they are one of two companies in the world doing this, the other being Wyeth and bought out by Pfizer.
Did Pfizer sell or make some sort of deal with the Chinese for the formula? Or did they have to considering the status of the drug’s patent?
Here is what it looks like inside one of the Chinese labs.
Here is what Chinese packaging looks like for the copycat Premarin® vaginal cream.
The numbers are scary. The number of women reaching the menopausal stage in China is many millions more than any other place in the world.
It is up to us to warn them about the cancer causing properties connected to Premarin® type drugs. It is the only way we can help these horses. That is our mission for 2017.
Please remember.
Menopause is not a disease. Menopausal symptoms — although they can be most unpleasant and in some instances seem debilitating — are not life threatening and can be successfully treated.
No human or animal needs to be exposed to suffering or death in order to be provided with relief from menopausal symptoms. There are alternatives.
WHAT ABOUT THE HORSES?
Premarin, Prempro, Premphase and Duavee are examples of the Premarin family of drugs which are made with the the estrogen rich urine of pregnant mares.
In the ‘pregnant mare urine’ (PMU) industry, horses are repeatedly impregnated so their urine can be collected and made into hormone replacement products . Some of the foals are rescued , but most are simply slaughtered and seen as a byproduct (much like male calves in the dairy industry).
There are alternatives. Talk to your doctor. Visit your local pharmacy. There are prescription free over-the-counter treatments for hot flashes, vaginal dryness and other menopausal symptoms. Thank you.
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