From United Animal Nations -
[email protected]
National Animal Group Asks Women to Remember Tens of
Thousands of Pregnant Horses Used and Abused by Drug Industry
SACRAMENTO, California (May 10) -- As we celebrate
Mother's Day this Sunday, May 12, United Animal Nations, a national
animal advocacy and rescue group, is calling on women nationwide to
remember the tens of thousands of Premarin mares for whom motherhood is
little cause for celebration.
An estimated 35,000 to 40,000 mares are impregnated
annually to fuel the production of Premarin, a hormone replacement drug
made with estrogens derived from pregnant mares' urine. These mares
spend six months or more out of the year tied up to urine collection
devices in barns in Canada and the U.S. Midwest. Then, turned out to
foal in the spring, the Premarin mares lose their babies late each
summer when the three-to-four-month old foals are shipped to auction,
most to be fattened for slaughter and shipment to European and Japanese
meat markets.
UAN works to educate the public, and women in
particular, about the source of Premarin (which is taken by an estimated
11 million women throughout the United States) and the availability of
plant-based and synthetic alternatives. UAN's "I've Switched" campaign
has hundreds of recruits who have made the compassionate choice to
switch off Premarin for a cruelty-free alternative. UAN also conducts an
annual Premarin mare and foal rescue adoption program.
"We urge every woman to share the truth about Premarin
with at least one other woman on this Mother's Day," said UAN President
Jeane Westin, who has a special reason for celebrating Mother's Day
because an ancestor, Anna Jarvis, was the founder of this longstanding
maternal holiday. "What better way to celebrate the special relationship
between mothers and their children than by taking a stand on behalf of
the Premarin mares and their baby foals who are so badly used by the
pharmaceutical industry."
To help women share the message with a friend, UAN has a
free E-postcard available via its website at www.uan.org. Just click on
the link for the E-postcard and you'll be able to send a simple message
about the Premarin issue and a beautiful photo of two Premarin horses to
a friend. More information about the Premarin issue and UAN's Anti-Premarin
Campaign also is available at
www.uan.org/premarin/index.html.
Go on to Journalist's
Note - The Word is Querencia
Return to 12 May 2002 Issue
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