The Controversy Over Horses And The Drug Premerin

Modern medicine can be a great thing. The treatments that the Pharmaceutical industry comes up with no doubt help millions of people to feel better and cope with their ailments. If they can afford to buy the drugs at least anyway. The way some drugs are made can be called peculiar to say the least and is in fact cruel to animal life. Take a drug called Premerin for example. Premerin is a hormone therapy drug that is used to treat post menopausal women to reduce the severity of hot flashes. It is estimated that there are about 55 million women in the U.S. who suffer with this condition. It is also prescribed to prevent or lessen the effects of osteoporosis which is the weakening or thinning of a woman's bones as she ages. The drug is made out of horse urine. That is in fact where the name of the drug comes from. Premerin is short for Pregnant Mares Urine. There are even Premerin farms in which the horses that are located there are used specifically for the purpose of making this drug. The company that manufactures the drug is called Wyeth and it rakes in billions a year marketing it. The problems with the drug are that Premerin can increase the likelihood of heart attacks, stroke, blood clots, and breast cancer. That's what it can do to humans. What it does to horses is after the period of collecting the urine ends (it usually lasts until 6 months after a mare gives birth) the horses are sent to the slaughter house because they cannot be easily or quickly re-impregnated. The foals that they give birth to are quickly fattened up and then sent to slaughter. There are some now who question the need for the continuing existence of Premerin farms and the use of horses in any way to make the drug in light of the fact that there exist many F.D.A. approved synthetic alternatives to Premerin that do not involve the use of any animals in order to manufacture such as Estradiol and Cenestin.