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Last week, Wyeth Organics, the only remaining company that collects pregnant mare's urine (PMU) to manufacture women's hormone replacement therapy drugs such as Premarin, announced that it is downsizing its PMU production and ending contracts with approximately 50 horse ranchers. Thousands of horses, nearly all pregnant mares about to give birth, now face an uncertain future.
This is the second major round of contract cuts to hit the PMU industry after a series of studies revealed that women taking the drugs face greater risk of heart attack, stroke, blood clots, breast cancer and Alzheimer's disease.
Wyeth claims it will offer financial assistance to ranchers until horses are placed in "productive markets." But "productive markets" means any buyer... and with auction prices reportedly up to 60 cents per pound, the chance that most of these mares and their babies will end up at the slaughterhouse is extremely high. Horsemeat is a delicacy in Europe, bringing in top prices of $16-20 per pound of meat.
In 2003, UAN created PMURescue.org in response to the last major "layoff" of 20,000 pregnant PMU mares. PMURescue.org is an online portal of adoptable PMU horses that works to combine the horse-saving efforts of many individuals and organizations. PMURescue.org now has more than 50 different rescue and placement organizations listing dozens of adoptable PMU horses - more than 200 are listed today. PMURescue.org has already helped to save hundreds of horses - but we need your help if we are to save those whose lives are now threatened by the latest contract cuts.
Below are five things you can do to help:
Write to Wyeth and request that they provide financial assistance only to ranchers who place their horses with adoptive homes or agencies. You can use our sample letter or write your own. Address letters to:
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Mr. Steve Tasher
Senior Vice-President
Wyeth Pharmaceuticals
Five Giralda Farms
Madison, New Jersey 07940
Fax: (973) 660-7111 |
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Learn more by clicking on the following links:
UAN Press Release
Brandon Sun article
Order free brochures from PMURescue.org. Distribute these brochures in your community to help potential adopters find available PMU horses, and to let rescue groups know about this free resource for listing their adoptable horses.
Help us encourage NAERIC, the association of equine ranchers, to tell its members that PMURescue.org can help them find homes for their horses. NAERIC is reluctant to promote any resource - no matter how helpful it could be - if it has the word "rescue" associated with it. They need to get off their "high horse" and face the reality that the horses they tout as "high quality" are, in fact, at risk for slaughter and very much in need of rescue. As the organization designed to help PMU ranchers, NAERIC should promote this excellent free resource to ranchers they serve. Address letters to:
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Mr. Norm Luba
Executive Director
NAERIC
P.O. Box 43968
Louisville, Kentucky 40253-0968
Fax: (502) 245-0438 |
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Spread the word about this latest round of cuts. Click this link to forward this message to five of your friends and encourage them to take action now.
Over the past decade, UAN has educated the public about the truth behind PMU drugs and saved hundreds of horses from the slaughterhouse. Having one centralized place for adopters, media and other interested horse advocates to look for PMU horses helps expose the issue tremendously. With your help, we can save even more lives and one day end the drug industry's exploitation of these horses for good.
Thank you for your support,
Karen Brown
Program Director
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