Premarin, a Cruel and Unneeded Drug

Premarin is a hormone replacement therapy drug for women. The manufacturer (Wyeth-Ayerst, a division of American Home Products) spends a lot of money promoting it to women desiring to take post-menopausal hormone replacement. This is what they don't tell you in the spiffy commercial advertisements.

Premarin gets its name from "Pregnant Mare Urine" that is it is made from the urine of pregnant horses. These horses are stalled in tiny areas, kept pregnant constantly, are watered minimally so their urine is more concentrated, and -- most horrifically -- the foals born to mares are routinely destroyed so that the mares can be reimpregnated. Millions of horses have been mistreated and killed creating Premarin over the many years it has been produced.

This practice is wholly unnecessary now because of medical advances yielding synthetic and plant alternatives.

Women who take Premarin should become aware of how this drug is produced and research alternatives with their doctors so we can try to stop this needless torture of horses.

I'm far from a PeTA freak or something, and support using animals for scientific testing etc. when necessary, but this practice is no longer necessary and needs to be stopped.

Here are some relevant links:

www.equineadvocates.com...
www.rockisland.com...

Agreed. Totally agreed. Don't know which sex you are, but speaking as a woman who is *valhall goes to counting* 14 years in to whether I need to be bolstered by drugs or not I can tell you. No I don't!

My bone mass density is awesome (and I don't drink enough milk).

I had more neurological problems and migraines on HRT than I have had off. (estrogen over long-term use constricts the blood vessels leading to migraines and eventually can lead to hardened, constricted vessels that can produce a stroke). The newest research hints at increased instances of dementia, alzheimers and parkinsons in women who have prolonged HRT.

Now, that was all about HRT in general. Let me share my experience specifically. I never took premarin. I took straight estrogen. I never had any of the side effects either getting on the drug, while on the drug for maintenance, nor getting off the drug, that women who take premarin report. Severe hot-flashes, severe mood-swings, etc. I have NEVER met a woman on premarin that was happy, or seemed healthy. And I have met a LOT of them.

IMHO, you are correct on two levels: 1. I believe that HRT can be achieved through holistic measures, and 2. if you go pharmaceutical, IMHO, there's a better way to go than horse-piss.

[edit on 4-8-2005 by Valhall]

I'm a guy but love horses...

My mother has never taken any HRT since she had breast cancer and it is contraindicated for her, but she's fine, I don't see her slumping into a wad of gum on the floor yet...

Actually the latest medical studies seem to be finding that taking HRT is a net negative for women, causing all sorts of bad side effects. But if women still want to take them, are better alternatives like you said Valhall.

[edit on 4/8/2005 by djohnsto77]

premarin (being pregnant mare urine) is more dangerous than the synthetic forms of horomone replacement, and it is killing many horses around the world not only the mares, but their foals as well. Many of these horses develope infections because of the lack of cleanliness involved in the urine extracting system.
Not only that, but the other day I saw a comercial for it on the TV and I was ready to scream and break the tv. (I'm an avid horse lover/rider/etc)
I still think that they should add the fact that they're killing horses to that dumb ass comercial... It would at least let the nyeave women who are taking the drug actually know what it's doing to innocent animals.