Last Chance for Animals

Special Investigations Unit

 

Premarin Investigation Report

3/17/03

 

Prepared by: Field Investigators

 
 

 

Overview:

The word Premarin is derived from Pregnant Mares Urine.  Premarin is a pharmaceutical drug manufactured in Canada by Wyeth-Ayerst Organics and is the number one hormone replacement therapy (HRT) drug in the world.  It has been produced since 1942 and is one of the most widely prescribed drugs in the country.  Premarin is the 8th largest expenditure for Medicare, and is projected to increase to over $2 billion in the next 5-10 years due to the ever-increasing “baby-boomer” generation.  Nearly 9 million women worldwide are currently taking Premarin as their HRT.  

 

What most of these women do not know is that 40,000 mares per year are used to produce Premarin.  These horses live lives filled with suffering: they are kept continually pregnant in stalls too small for them to turn around; when they can no longer reproduce or they become lame, they follow their foals to the slaughterhouse; their meat is then sold for human consumption or dog food.

 

LCA’s Investigation:

In August of 2002, Last Chance for Animals’ Special Investigations Unit (SIU) investigated the use of mares and foals in the production of Premarin.  During this investigation, SIU acquired exclusive footage of the inhumane treatment of these animals. 

 

It is the position of Last Chance for Animals that the practice of using pregnant mares is institutional animal abuse and the continued use of this method of production, when in fact there are proven alternative methods, is barbaric. 

 

Considering the recent research findings regarding the long-term side effects of using Premarin-based products, the issue of women’s health is a major factor in bringing this case to the public’s attention.

Toward that end, the SIU investigation revealed the plight of these animals.  This document is a case summary of this investigation.

 

It is our position that Wyeth-Ayerst is currently utilizing animals for the production of a drug that has in some cases been proven harmful to women.  We believe that once this information is provided to the public, medical practitioners, patients currently on Premarin and its related products, and those patients soon to become dependant on HRT, people will make a conscious effort to use alternative therapies.

 
 


  

Foals sent to slaughter: the by-product of Premarin production
 
 

 

 

 


Case Summary:

The Special Investigations Unit has conducted an in-depth investigation into Premarin in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, Canada, and North Dakota, U.S.A., where Premarin is currently produced.  Investigators have acquired hours of video tape depicting foals and mares at slaughter houses, the conditions inside the slaughter houses, the inside of Premarin barns, and foals being sold at auction. 

 

This detailed investigative report includes exclusive footage and documentation of:

 

·         Institutional Animal Abuse – Mares mistreated and neglected

  • The By-Product of Premarin Production - Foals going to slaughter

 

Related Issues:

  • Environmental Issue – possible pollution of the local water supply

§         Possible Interview – Dr. Bill Patton, Brandon University

§         Women’s Health Issue – alternative’s readily available

·         Plant based and synthetic

·         Women’s Health Study showing dangers of Premarin products

·         Potential Interview – Dr. Ray Kellosami, British Columbia

 

Last Chance for Animals is committed to bringing this information to the attention of the Canadian and American public.  LCA plans to launch a nationwide educational campaign regarding the issue of Premarin, including the animal abuse and neglect, as well as the alternatives to using this animal-derived product. 

 

Institutional Animal Abuse – Mares mistreated and neglected

 

Living Conditions:

At Premarin farms across Canada and North Dakota, mares in their third or fourth month of pregnancy are placed alone in narrow stalls.  They are fitted with a short rope or chain, a harness, and a urine collection bag which scrapes their legs, causing sores.  As a result of these restrictive devices, the mares can take only a step or two in any direction.  They cannot turn around or lie down comfortably.  Instead, they are made virtually immobile, for six months out of the year. 

 

The investigation reveals:

 

  • Premarin broodmares who were forced to lay in their own feces. 
  • Mares’ sides covered in feces.
  • Mares tangled up in the urine collection device (UCD).
  • UCD’s covered in feces.
  • Numerous instances where the mares had no water.
  • Horses outside in temperatures as low as 9° F.
  • Mares in obvious pain and discomfort due to hoof neglect.

 

There have been allegations that Premarin ranchers restrict the amount of water they give to the mares in order to concentrate the estrogens in the urine. 

 

Mares were forced to lie on cold concrete floors.  The barns were so cold that ice formed on the inside walls. 

 

Chains were attached to some of the mare’s heads, forcing them to stand in the same position.

 

There are no laws regarding the treatment of Premarin mares, only a recommended code.  In regards to exercising the mares, section 4.6 of the code states, “Every horse on a PMU farm should be given the opportunity to exercise as is necessary for its individual welfare, as determined by the operator, the PMU inspector and the attending veterinarian.”  In other words, mares never have to be exercised if the operator doesn’t feel that it is necessary.  

 

Collection bottles in urine barns
 
 

 

 

 

 


The By-Product of Premarin Production - Foals going to slaughter

 

Reproduction:

The vast majority of Premarin mares give birth to a foal every year.  Afterwards, they are almost immediately impregnated again.  If they fail to become pregnant, in most cases they are sent to slaughter.  If they do become pregnant again, their foals are taken from them.  Most mares do not willingly leave their foals; they are whipped, kicked, or beaten with an electrical prod until they comply.

 

Foals:

Some of the foals die immediately after birth.  The rest are taken from their mothers when they are three to four months old.  A few of the females will be raised to be “Premarin mares” and join the production line.  Most will be sold and sent to feedlots to be fattened for slaughter. 

 

 

 

The foals will then be transported by trailer to slaughterhouses and killed.  Their meat will be shipped to Japan, France, or other parts of Asia and Europe for human consumption.  Others are shipped live to specialty meat markets in Japan. 

 

Some of the foals fall by the wayside and are discarded by any means available.

 

Dead foal left in the snow
 
 

 

 

 


Auctions:

Investigators visited several horse auctions in Manitoba and Saskatchewan where Premarin mares and foals were being auctioned off.  At one point, our investigators witnessed 24 out of 25 sales at the Winnipeg auction go to killer buyers.  At the auctions, investigators witnessed foals still nursing with their mothers, and saw cowboys trying to kick the foals.

  

 

 

Transportation:

Like other “food animals” sent to slaughter, mares and foals are typically deprived of food and water during transport.  They do not have an opportunity to rest, nor do they receive veterinary care.  Instead, they are transported in overcrowded trailers where the smaller ones, particularly the foals, are sometimes crushed under the larger horses.  Those that are too weak to stand and those that have died en route will be dragged off of the truck.  Investigators documented foals being loaded onto a livestock truck at the Heartland horse auction in Brandon, Manitoba.  The foals were packed into the trucks, squeezed in so tightly that they could not move or turn around, and their heads were smashed between bodies.  They appeared to be extremely uncomfortable.

 

Feedlot:

At the feedlots it was documented that there were injured foals.  Also witnessed, were foals still nursing on their mothers and playing with each other, unaware of their fate.

 

Slaughterhouse:

At the slaughterhouse, there were several Premarin mares with grossly overgrown hooves.  The mares appeared to be in some discomfort due to their condition.  Also present were several foals that were very thin, including a dead foal and numerous other horses that were sick.  One horse had a badly swollen, bulging right eye. 

 

 

There is documentation of horses that appeared to still be conscious with their legs already cut off.  You will see this gruesome footage on the enclosed videotape.

 

 

 

 
 

Foal carcass at slaughterhouse
 
 

 

 

 


The Law:

Specific laws or government regulations do not apply to the treatment of mares on Premarin farms.  Instead, the standard is dictated only by an inadequate code called “Recommended Code of Practice for The Care and Handling of Horses In PMU Operations,” which is poorly enforced.  Thus, the horses do not have any legal protection.

 

Conclusion:

Last Chance for Animals, a national nonprofit animal advocacy organization, is launching a nationwide educational campaign regarding the production of Premarin and the horrible atrocities these animals endure.

It is our opinion that this story deserves to be told, for the sake of the animals, and the millions of women who are currently taking this potentially dangerous prescription drug. 

 

The enclosed videotape provides a detailed account of this situation, with never-before-seen footage of the treatment of these animals.

 

Exclusive Undercover Video Footage:

 

LCA acquired hours of video tape that depicts foals being sold at auction, at slaughter houses, the conditions inside the slaughter houses, and the inside of Premarin barns. 

 

 This video-tape exposes:

  • Slaughtered mare, still alive, hanging from a butcher hook
  • Close-up shots of the foals
  • Every type of horse used in the Premarin operation
  • Inside of the Premarin “pee” barns that show neglected horses, horses lying in their own feces, the apparatus that is used to collect the urine, and the immobilization of the mares on the line
  • Empty water bowls inside the barns
  • Inside of a barn where the wall is covered with ice
  • Outside temperature of the barns (-23°F)
  • Unique footage of dirty urine jugs
  • Various footage of the outside of Premarin barns
  • Wyeth-Ayerst Organics manufacturing plant with the company logo and a Canadian flag
  • Scientist working at the Wyeth-Ayerst facility (filmed through a window)
  • Tanker truck unloading product at the Wyeth-Ayerst plant
  • The auctioning of foals at various Canadian auction houses filmed in September 2002
  • One of the most notorious killer buyers purchasing foals and mares at an auction
  • Foal nursing on its mother at a horse auction
  • A veterinarian conducting a pregnancy-check of a mare.  It shows a mare in discomfort and whining as the vet sticks his arm into her vagina; his arm all the way in, up to his shoulder
  • Cowboy kicking at a foal
  • Very compelling footage of foals that were loaded up into a livestock truck.  They are packed in like sardines.  The truck is driving down the road with the foals on their way to slaughter
  • Shots of a feedlot where foals and mares are sent to be fattened up before slaughter
  • Injured foal at the feedlot
  • Very compelling footage of a nursing foal with its mother at the feedlot
  • Two colts playing at the feedlot, one of the colts has a gash on his side
  • Horses at the slaughterhouse corrals.  Quarter horse with swollen, bulging eye, Premarin mares with grossly overgrown hooves, good close-up footage of horses and personal shots that are very compelling
  • Mares being unloaded at the slaughterhouse from a transport truck
  • A stack of horse pelts
  • Inside of a horse slaughterhouse
  • Bullet and casing in the “kill” area near where the horses are stunned
  • Slaughterhouse worker, knife in hand, slicing into the horse
  • The hanging carcasses of skinned horses
  • Meat moving along the conveyor belt
  • JAL (Japan Airlines) cargo container, in which the meat is transported
  • The lagoons where Wyeth-Ayerst dumps the waste, within 40 yards of the Assiniboine River
  • Footage depicting Natural Biologics in Albert Lea MN

 

 

Wyeth-Ayerst Organics

There is also footage of the Wyeth-Ayerst Organics Premarin manufacturing plant in Brandon, Manitoba, Canada.  As stated previously, footage was obtained of the lagoons where Wyeth-Ayerst allegedly dumps their by-products, within 40 yards of the Assiniboine River.  Scientists allege that these by-products are finding their way into the river.  The town of Brandon has been called the foulest smelling city in Manitoba, if not all of Canada, due in part to the dumping of Premarin waste products.

 

Natural Biologics

Natural Biologics is attempting to get FDA approval to produce a generic version of Premarin.  They have been collecting approximately 31,000 gallons of horse urine per year since the late 1990’s.  They have contracts with approximately 40 operations with about 50 mares per farm located in 6 mid-western states.  If the FDA grants them approval, they stand to make several hundred million dollars per year.  This approval could come at anytime.

 

 

For more information, please visit www.lcanimal.org.

 

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