There are many organizations who rescue and adopt out premarin foals and mares. Many are large breeds, and some are registered. If you'd be interested in such a horse, just google premarin rescue.
Posted on 01/05/2007 5:18:24 AM PST by Pharmboy
And "Premarin" stands for "pregnant mare urine."
Saddle Thread Ping?
Big pharma doesn't mention these little details in their propaganda ads on TV. Wyatt should be sued out of business for being the main cause of breast cancer deaths to thousands of women. The evidence was just published: women stop taking their pregnant mare urine and the breast cancer deaths plummet. This is just as clear evidence as the smoking/lung cancer link. Let's see the Democrats tackle that, since obviously, the Republicans didn't.
I am involved with horses in Canada -- 5 of our own, plus a small tack shop business -- and we have seen this problem grow. About 4 years ago the bottom fell out of the estrogen market and the PMU farms (many in Alberta) began dumping their horses. Wyeth arranged a payment package to help support the farmers who had to cut back, but what to do with the horses remained an issue. This article surprises me mostly because this issue is no longer new and the market has 'restabilized' at a lower level. Yes, the PMU farms prefer mares under the age of 12. But that's farming for you. A similar situation occurs with milk cows, and the young males born so that we can have milk are unwanted and slaughtered early. The article suggests that the drug company 'refuses' to allow the farmers to work with animal rescue agencies, but I'll bet you that's a 'soft' refusal. Far too many of these rescue agencies are merely folk trying to make a buck, getting their hands on horses for resale (each one worth a minimum of $500 at the slaughterhouse), or crazy folk who keep too many animals in one place and can't feed or doctor them all. Very difficult to police. The Texas-based Habitat for Horses (www.habitatforhorses.org) is an excellent exception which protects the horses in its care through foster programs. If any freeper horsefolk have the space and the heart, this is a fabulous way to help out the horses on a continuing basis. The greatest issue with this whole PMU thing is the ethical one of creating 'throw-away' life.
Evidence just published? I thought this came out years ago. That's why the PMU market plummeted.
Best,
PB
Only when the large Womens's Health Initiative was done did the negative effects of hormonal therapy show up. This happened about 5 years ago and the market disappeared.
yes, that's about the timeline. It's amazing how many women continue on HRT.
Big Pharma, propaganda,sued out of business, are you looking for moveon.org instead of FR. You even got the smoking/lung cancer link thrown in.
Is there a link to the publication of evidence you mentioned.
Do France and other European countries eat horsemeat? Sell them there...
Really sad...but IMO, slaughter is better then having them confined in so small a space, for such a long period of time. I'd like to know what type of health issues that brings on and how many mares they loose because of it. It's got to be some. I'd think there would be lots of leg and hoof problems, colic, etc.
Becky
The evidence s/he refers to is the recently reported drop in new cases of breast cancer which has been ascribed (probably correctly) to the decrease in prescriptions for hormonal therapy. I am in the "big pharma" industry, so I have no negative axe to grind here. The tone of his/her post irritated me also--indeed, our industry is far from perfect, but big pharma (or big oil or big steel) is better than big gummint, IMO.
Severeal of my friends have taken PMU foals. They turned out to be nice heavy foxhunters. There are full-draft foals available too and some of them are of nice quality, but the market for drafts is much smaller. Usually some effort is made to breed the mares to good-quality stallions so that the foals are worth something.
The PMU farms are not bad, as far as I know. It's not like veal, where the animals are not allowed to move. The mares are kept well, doing their jobs. It's not in the farmer's best interest to lose stock or maltreat it. But afterwards, who needs an aging, untrained mare? And the babies are dumped, no doubt about it.
There are many organizations who rescue and adopt out premarin foals and mares. Many are large breeds, and some are registered. If you'd be interested in such a horse, just google premarin rescue.
Congratulations :~)
And note the byline on this article: dollars to donuts she's Sam Donaldson's daughter.
Just curious about the $800 cost....if the number of horses available for adoption is increasing, why has the price doubled? An acquaintance of mine bought a PMU foal (purebred Percheron) in Canada 5 or 6 years ago for $400.
I don't think the number IS increasing. First, there was a drought, in the Canadian west, 5 years ago, which caused a large number of horses to be in distress. Then the PMU drop came, 2002? At that point, people became aware that some good youngsters could be had at bargain prices -- purebreds and such -- and the price for the PMU foals began to rise. Pure economics. Still cheap, but not as cheap.
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