Info on PMU horses and foals for those who are not aware of how this drug is made and what price is paid for it. If you know anyone taking Premarin, please ask them to talk to their doctor about other alternatives:http://www.springhillrescue.com/pmu.shtml * If 60,000 pregnant mares are needed per year to produce Premarin, there must be 60,000 foals born to these mares each year?!? Yes! They are considered mere by-products of this industry.
* The mares at PMU (Pregnant Mare Urine) farms are impregnated, fitted with a urine collector device and put on "pee lines" for approximately 6 – 8 months. They are tied in small 8’ long X 3‘ wide stalls. Many are kept dehydrated so their urine is concentrated.
* The mares are taken off the "pee lines" at foaling time and put outside to foal. They are re-impregnated and returned to the PMU production line. If these mares fail to get pregnant they too are generally sent to slaughter and replaced.
* It has been reported that a small percent of foals at PMU farms do not survive due to exposure, starvation, or "clubbing" at birth. Of the foals that do survive, an estimated 9 out of every 10 fillies (females) and 49 out of every 50 colts (males) go to slaughter and their meat is shipped over seas for human consumption.
* The true tragedy is that there are several other synthetic and plant-based alternatives on the market today. It is not even necessary to produce this drug! Women are rarely told what and how Premarin is made. If given the choice, most would not choose to be party to this cruelty and slaughter of these tens of thousands of horses and would opt for a synthetic drug.
http://www.uan.org/index.cfm?navId=75http://www.pmurescue.org/http://www.premarin.org/http://www.cyberpict.net/horses/pmu.htm Premarin is made from the urine of pregnant mares, who are tied in stalls unable to lie down (and YES horses do need to lie down, some sleep stages are done standing others lying for full rest a horse must lie down), get no exercise, have reduced water consumption (makes the urine more concentrated) for six months. This leaves them unhealthy, covered with sores and with infections and drastically shortens their lives. They are taken off line to give birth and in some cases the foal is weaned dangerously early (if allowed to nurse at all) so the mare can be brought back into season and bred again. The average life span of a PMU farm mare is 8-9 years, compared to 20-30(sometimes more) that is more typical of a horse. And at the end of production the mares are sent to slaughter as well...often with their last foal sat their side.
