Premarin: What is It? ~ Pawprints and Purrs, Inc.

Premarin - What is It?

"Here’s what I’ve learned and here’s why I need you to help me: Wyeth makes the menopause drugs Premarin, Prempro, Premphase, and Prempak-C from the urine of pregnant mares whose foals mostly end up slaughtered for food. I am no longer willing to swallow Wyeth’s bitter pills, so I am joining the thousands of women worldwide who have chosen to throw this medicine out and fight for the animals' lives. I used to take Premarin... I am outraged that tens of thousands of pregnant mares are tied up in stalls so small they cannot turn around or lie down comfortably. Their foals, considered 'byproducts,' are often butchered for dog food or dinner tables in France, Mexico, and Japan." ~ Brigitte Bardot, Screen Legend and Animal Activist ~

If you take Premarin^TM, you are like 9 million other menopausal or post-hysterectomy women - you've been provided a hormone prescribed by your doctor. But Premarin^TM, the most commonly prescribed drug in the USA, has a nasty secret ingredient: pregnant mares' urine. The older, original name uses an "e" and is also spelled as Premarine in Canada. Premarine stands for Pregnant Mares' Urine (PREgnant MARes' urINE); the recent spelling and the one that is trademarked is Premarin^TM.

Premarin^TM is produced by Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, a subsidary of American Home Products. Premarin^TM (including Prempro, Premphase, and Prempac) is a drug made up of conjugated estrogens obtained from the urine of pregnant mares - made into various forms such as pills, creams, injections, and patches. It is used to reduce the symptoms of menopause in women or women who have had a hysterectomy. It is also prescribed to nearly eliminate the risk of osteoporosis (the brittling of bones) and reduce the chance of heart disease in women over 50.

This year, approximately 75,000 mares throughout North Dakota and Canada will be impregnated and confined to cramped stalls so their estrogen-rich urine can be collected. Most of the foals will be killed before their first birthday.

To produce Premarin^TM, pregnant mares are tethered to the front of stalls measuring just 3 1/2 to 5 feet wide and 8 feet long. For six months, while their bodies are producing the most estrogen, these mares are unable to take more than a step or two in any direction, turn around, or even lie down comfortably. Lameness often develops. Mares are forced to wear cumbersome rubber urine-collection bags, which chafe their legs and cause sores, 24 hours a day to collect their urine. They are also denied free access to water so that their urine will yield more concentrated estrogens. This can lead to renal and liver problems and cause the mares to struggle and injure themselves during water-distribution times to get to the water they so desperately crave.

So that they can be put right back into production the next winter, the mares are reimpregnated within days of giving birth. A few months after giving birth, they are separated from their foals and put back on the "pee line." Fertile mares may go through this same grueling cycle year after year for more than twenty years.

The fate of the approximately 70,000 foals—considered unwanted industry "byproducts" — who are born on Premarin^TM farms each year is equally disturbing. A few are kept for stud or to replace their worn-out mothers. Most of the foals, at the tender age of 4 months, are sold at auction to "kill buyers" and are sent to feedlots to be fattened for slaughter. They will end up on the dinner tables of Europe and Japan. Mares, too, are slaughtered when they become old, infertile, or crippled. Look carefully at the label on a can of dog food and you may see them mentioned: meat byproducts.

The good news is that Premarin^TM is the only menopause drug made with animal-derived estrogen. Safe, effective alternatives include Estratab, Estraderm, Estrace, Othro-Est, and Remifermin. Unfortunately, these alternatives do not receive funding, studies, or mega-marketing as Premarin^TM does.

A growing number of physicians are challenging the idea that a drug derived from animal waste is beneficial to humans. Many women experience unwanted side effects from prescription ERT (Estrogen-Replacement Therapy) drugs, and several studies have substantiated a link between Premarin^TM and breast cancer. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which "has historically had significant concern" about "crudely purified" natural-source drugs, cautions that "the urinary estrogen excretion by pregnant mares is widely variable." Studies have shown that the amount of estradiol — one of the active hormones in Premarin^TM — can vary by almost 400 percent from one batch to the next. (Russell, Frances, "New Hormone May Close Gate on Urine Farms," Winnipeg Free Press, November 14, 1995)

As the ugly facts about Premarin filter through the medical community, more and more doctors have stopped prescribing this drug. Writes Dr. Josh C. Tunca, a Chicago gynecologic oncologist, "In light of [PETA’s] information, we have immediately stopped prescribing Premarin^TM and are now using [synthetic estrogens] Estradiol or Estrace." Many doctors, like gynecologist Stephen Rosenman, find that plant-derived synthetic drugs are preferable to Premarin^TM. They work just as well and have fewer negative side effects.

Physicians are discovering that menopause-related symptoms can be managed naturally through diet and exercise. As Dr. Joy Bradley explains, it’s possible to stop some symptoms before they start:

Women don’t have to wait until they have reached menopause to reduce its more uncomfortable symptoms. Since high-fat diets increase estrogen production, a woman can keep her estrogen levels low by following a low-fat, high-fiber diet. The drop in estrogen levels at menopause will then be much less – fewer side effects – than for someone who follows a diet high in meats and dairy products. Keeping fiber in the diet helps as well because fiber picks up excess or waste hormones that the body has sent into the digestive tract and ushers them out of the body.

Many doctors prescribe estrogen-replacement therapy (ERT) to their patients going through menopause not only to curb its discomforting effects, but also in an effort to prevent osteoporosis. Recent studies have shown that excess protein in the diet contributes to the development of this disease of "brittle" bones because protein leaches calcium from the body. People who eat meat, eggs, and dairy products generally get two or three times as much protein as their bodies need. A varied diet based on peas, beans, grains and vegetables is ideal. It provides ample calcium (in leafy green vegetables, broccoli, lentils, and fortified orange juice) and fiber but is low in protein and fat.

Premarin^TM is just one of several ERT medications available. Plant-derived synthetic drugs contain none of the impurities found in animal waste and because they are made synthetically and not from an animal byproduct, they are consistent in concentration and quality. Most patients and doctors are unaware of how Premarin is produced. Those who know the background of the production of this drug should tell others and always encourage a healthful lifestyle. ~ Dr. Joy Bradley

Ayerst's accompanying description form CI 41197 which comes with every prescription of Premarin^TM states:

Premarin (conjugated estrogens tablets, USP) for orall administration contains a mixture of estrogens obtained exclusively from natural sources, occurring as the sodium salts of water-soluble estrogen sulfates blended to represent the average composition of material derived from pregnant mares' urine.

If you choose to manage menopause-related symptoms naturally, simply add daily exercise to the recommendations above, and you’ve filled your own prescription for a healthful lifestyle.

Additional Premarin^TM FAQs:

The Facts About Premarin®
Premarin/Horse Slaughter Campaign
The Premarin (PMU) Industry

Call 1-800-KNOW-PMU for more information on Premarin^TM and its alternatives.

Reference Sources:
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510
Phone: 757-622-PETA
Email

For additional information, visit Premarin: Just Say No!

Page URL: http://www.sniksnak.com/premarin.html