Premarin Research Paper

A pregnant horse stands confined to a small stall, packed into a crowded facility with numerous others just like her. She has been through many pregnancies in her life, never having the chance to bond with her foals and she exists to serve one purpose - to make a profit. This is the life of a horse on a Pregnant Mares’ Urine Farm. The facility that exists to produce a drug called Premarin. Although Premarin is used in Hormone Replacement Therapy for menopausal women, Premarin should not be used because of the effects it has on the mares.

Life for pregnant mares at the PMU farms are horrendous and entails a constant cycle of impregnation to keep their estrogen levels high. They spend nearly six months out of their eleven month pregnancy, confined

to stalls, unable to move or even lay down, once the babies are born, they are escorted away. This process is repeated over and over until the mare can no longer reproduce. The mares go through this constant cycle to produce a drug called Premarin. Premarin is a drug that is used for menopausal women that endures hot flashes, vaginal dryness, burning, and irritation. Premarin is also said to help prevent osteoporosis.
Premarin is the only human estrogen replacement drug that is from an animal.

“Premarin is a drug made up of conjugated estrogens obtained from the urine of pregnant mares, put out in many forms (pills, creams, injections, patches, and vaginal rings) and is used to reduce the symptoms of menopause. Also prescribed to nearly eliminate the risk of osteoporosis and reduce the chance of heart disease in women over 50.” (Bro, Wyeth). Estrogen is a female sex hormone produced by the ovaries. In 1975, Wyeth became the biggest selling and most successful prescription drug. In 2003, nine million American women are still taking Premarin. Premarin is used for women post hysterectomy and have severe body issues after. The estrogen that is used in Premarin is to help stop these diagnoses. “To produce Premarin, these mares are impregnated fitting with an urine collection device and normally kept throughout their last six months of pregnancy in stalls just eight feet long, by three and a half feet wide, by five feet tall.” (Wyeth). Mares produce about ninety to a hundred gallons of urine, to collect the urine, the farmers use what is called a Urine Collection Device, also known as a UCD. The UCD is not very hygienic for the horses, it allows the urine the soak the skin of the vulva, causing severe infections and painful lesions. The UCD could even fall out of place, fill up with feces, an unhygienic condition that the farmers will not take care of immediately. Another form of torture these

mares go through is being watered as little as possible, to keep the estrogen levels up.
Horses’ bodies are not made to be confined in a small stall, horses are made to be constantly moving. “Horses’ bodies have evolved to always be moving, but these animals could not walk or run or shift positions.” (Lange). Since horses are meant to be moving at all times, being tied up in a stall and not being able to move more than two or three steps causes the mares to suffer from soreness, problems stocking up, and respiratory distress. When the mare is placed in the stall, she is tied up front and strapped in behind, making it so they cannot turn around. During the six months the mares are confined, they stand tethered in concrete-floored stalls too narrow to turn around in. The mares are never allowed to go out and graze during their time in the stall. The mares are deprived of exercise, cannot utilize their natural athleticism, and sociability, kick up their heels, stretch muscles, or flex joints. The weight of a horse is implied mainly to their front legs, causing the horse to have arthritic joints, due to lack of exercise. “The pregnant mare urine, which contains estrogen, was used by Pfizer to manufacture a hormone replacement drug called Premarin.” (Lange). Pfizer is a gigantic drug industry that still produces the original version of Premarin. In the last few years, the industry has decreased nearly 35,000 mares to about 800 in North America. Following the disclosure in 2002 that Premarin increases the risk of cancer, heart attacks, and strokes, the drug plummeted. Therefore in 2008, 90-plus mares were rescued from the farms. Sadly, the industry is not dying, it has moved overseas into places like: China, Kazakhstan, and Poland. There are reportedly 90,000 mares currently in PMU farms in China, where animal protection laws are lacking. After realizing the cruel treatment these animals endure, women immediately stop taking Premarin.
The treatment these animals endure is horrifying, the health problems that they encounter is extreme and preventable.

“Farmers restrict the amount of water given to the mares because the water dilutes the concentration of their urine, making it less profitable.” (Carmody). The farmers become strict when watering the mares, the most in a day they are allowed to be watered is two times. The mares were fed hay or straw, which provided nutrients, but also provided a measure of boredom relief. Mares were also fed grain or pellets. Once the mares reach their third or fourth month of pregnancy is when they are placed alone, fitted with a short rope or chain, harness, and a urine collection bag which crucially scrapes their legs, causing sores. The mares are described to be showing frustration, constantly pawing at the ground, kicking, or chewing the wooden partitions. The mares were miserable, due to their confinement and their advanced stage of pregnancy. When investigating the horses living quarters and checking on their harnesses and ropes, some horses would stand there, unbothered and quiet, while others would dance and get nervous when someone walked into their space. The odor in their barn was described to be horrendous, it was not the pleasant horsy smell everyone knows of, instead it was a sort of musky smell that permeated the air and held fast to everything it encountered. When the mares are placed in their concrete stalls, they do not get any form of protection from

the floor. The farmers find sufficient bedding to be costly and bothersome to clean. Food supply is inadequate and the veterinary care that is needed, is not received. “Most mares naturally resist separation from their babies, so they are often whipped, kicked, or beaten with an electric prod until they finally allow their foal to be taken.” (Carmody). After giving birth, the mare is immediately impregnated again, failure to get pregnant means that the mares are going to get slaughtered. If the mare does get pregnant the foal is taken away prematurely of three to four months. Some foals are killed immediately after birth, some female foals are even raised to become a Premarin Mare. The farmers that send the mares to the slaughterhouse say that they are only upgrading the mares, to produce better quality foals that can be adopted, that happens to an extent. There are approximately over 40,000 foals reaching the market the same time every year there are still thousands of these “byproducts” of the PMU industry meeting violent deaths on the slaughterhouse kill floors. Foals were sold for about $25 and wound up going to feedlots to be readied for the horse meat market. Horse meat buying was still a big industry, but since farmers were producing better foals, they are too expensive for the meat market. Now they are selling for about $500 to $3,500. During the transportation to the slaughterhouse, they are deprived of water and food. There is no time to rest or receive veterinary care. Crammed into the trailers so tight, that the smaller horses are crushed. Code of practice recommends that every PMU operator must treat horses for internal and external parasites, even vaccinated for sleeping sickness or tetanus, but that was not the case at the farms. Some farms started vaccinating for Rhinopneumonitis because of the threat of abortion as well as respiratory diseases. Abortion rates were low, one to two percent, by one rancher. Health problems that are common to mares include: dehydration, hoof injuries, leg injuries, sore, and lacerations, swollen joints, edema, liver disorders, kidney disorders, and premature death.
NAERIC also known as North American Equine Ranching Information Council, is located in Lousiville, Kentucky. “There are approximately 1,300 broodmares involved in the equine ranching industry.” (NAERIC). NAERIC was introduced in 1941 by the Canadian Pharmaceutical company. The equine ranching industry has been around since 1942. On May 5, 1997, the food and drug administration center for the drug evaluation and research announced that it will not approve synthetic generic forms of the estrogen therapy drug Premarin, because the generic products have not been shown to contain the same active ingredients and therefore, to work the same, as the original drug in treating women with menopausal symptoms. The types of horses that are involved on these farms are mostly quarter horses, registered draft Percheron, and Belgian horses. The people that run the Equine ranches are a fourth generation rancher, works with his or her spouse, child, and hired hands care for the mares.
Premarin itself has many other drugs added to it. “Increased risk of having breast cancer diagnosed is reported in women taking combined estrogen-progertogen therapy.” (Premarin). Each tablet contains 0.625 mg of conjugated estrogens, 54.1 mg of lactose monoshydrate, and 45 mg of sucrose. “Symptoms of overdose of estrogen - containing products in adults and children may include nausea, vomiting, breast tenderness, dizziness, abdominal pain, drowsiness/fatigue, and withdrawal bleeding may occur in females. There is no specific antidote and further treatment should be symptomatic.” (Premarin). Contraindications of taking Premarin is known, suspected, or history of breast cancer. Taking Premarin increases the risk of endometrial cancer, heart disease, strokes, and blood clotting. Reasons to immediately stop taking Premarin include: jaundice, increase in blood pressure, migraines, pregnancy, ovarian cancer, coronary artery disease, and ischaemic stroke.
Ingesting this pill can and will seriously harm the human body. Serious side effects include: sweating, nausea, severe headache, confusion, problems with vision, speech, or balance, pain in stomach, and abnormal vaginal bleeding. Premarin is used in women that have had an hysterectomy or menopausal issues. The Hormone Replacement Therapy replaces the estrogen in women with ovarian failure. Conjugated estrogens are used as part of cancer treatment in women and men. Some forms the estrogen can be taken in a pill, creams, injections, patches, and vaginal rings. Common side effects of Premarin include stomach cramps, vomiting, bloating, breast tenderness, headache, weight or appetite changes, freckles or darkening of facial skin, nervousness, and tired feeling.
Pregnant Mare Urine farms are crucial to these animals. Their whole life is spent in a stall, constantly being impregnated over and over, never getting the chance to bond with her foal. Once is she unable to produce, she is sent to an auction, to be sent to a slaughterhouse. Then she is for food in different countries or dog food. The horses have no true meaning to these farmers, they are there to make a profit. PMU is a facility that exists to make Premarin, a drug that is supposed to help women with menopausal symptoms. Premarin contains estrogen, estrogen is used to reduce symptoms from menopause, such as: hot flashes, vaginal dryness, burning and irritation. Estrogen may help the human race, but the way these animals live is not healthy. 40,000 foals born a year, 39,000 of them are slaughtered. Even though Premarin is used in Hormonal Replacement Therapy for menopausal women, Premarin should not be used because of the effects it has on these horses.