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.
In 2016 Horse Fund advocates and followers of Tuesday’s Horse took more action and viewed and shared more articles and information on the Premarin® Horses issue than any other horse cruelty issue.
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.
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.
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 ingredient necessary to make Premarin® must be gotten from equines.
Yet there were doctors who continued to argue the point and said they had no problem prescribing Premarin®. They 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.
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 is in China where they are producing what appears to be a copycat drug.
In 2012 Jane Allin performed original research and discovered that there were PMU horses in China. Their use of the horses and their intent was unclear. See Pfizer consigns PMU horses to killing fields of Asia.
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.
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 Premarin® copycat cream.
The numbers are very 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.
Learn more at Premstoppers on the Horse Fund’s website.
Tuesday's Horse 
What sales pitch for Wyeth use to sell this stuff?
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Basically that it’s safe and effective to use. We can’t vouch how effective it is but no drug the World Health Organization warns that drugs made with equine estrogens contain known carcinogens to humans can be safe. Plus it abuses and takes the lives of unaccounted for mares and their offspring.
Kill and abuse horses because of discomfort? Put your body and health at risk for discomfort?
It’s not like this drug is the only thing on the market to deal with the discomfort of menopause.
As reported time and again here on this blog alone there are numerous, too numerous to count, of all types of alternatives to treating the side effects, or discomforts, of menopause.
See:
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Since there is a cruelty free alternative, Estrace, derived from plants, PMU mares and foals should be a thing of the past. I don’t understand why the animals are necessary now.
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It isn’t. But it is a huge money spinner for Pfizer.
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I have written to several magazines recently about their Premarin ads. People, Southern Living, Better Homes and Gardens and Birds and Blooms. Better,Homes and Gardens was the only one that replied, but Birds and Blooms do not have the ad any more. People and Southern Living do, it I tear them out before putting them in the waiting room at the dental office where I work!
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Well done Roxanne! The horses are blessed to have such a firm and active advocate.
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***. Let’s put pee lines in all of the *** running these labs. Shameful.
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It is so disgusting to read about an industry that is so horrible on the mares and then what happens to the foals that are born and then killed for meat,esp in Japan..0ur country should be ashamed for putting up with this cruel industry !!
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I began having symptoms of menopause when I was 38 years old.
The uncomfortable and sometimes even torturous hot flashes eventually subsided and now have completely disappeared over a period of years.
I have never taking any medication for it and it simply went away.
What is it about people that at the first sign something different or uncomfortable they have to take something for it?
Like everything else that we have to deal with in life, I figured it would pass, and it did.
As you article brought out, menopause is a natural part of a woman’s life cycle. It is not life-threatening.
I don’t know if my situation is rare, but I am experiencing no problems with being postmenopausal. In fact for many years I have enjoyed not having mood swings due to hormone changes on a monthly basis. That was more of a problem than menopause side effects.
I’m glad I did not seek hormone treatment for a very natural part of life for me as a woman.
I am very glad that I did not contribute to the mistreatment and death of the animal that I get so much pleasure from having in my life.
And I am very happy that I did not expose myself to something that could have caused me cancer.
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Christine, thank you so much for your thoughtful comment. It is one thing for us to say it; it is quite another for someone else to say it and give testimony like yours who have been through it and come through it well bringing harm to no one.
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