September 12th, 1998

Horse What? You've Got to be Kidding!
By Jackie Alan Giuliano, Ph.D.

What does it mean to want to "heal our world?" Does it mean to stop all the wrongs that are being committed every day? Does it mean to live as if each day was your last and enjoy your family and friends with the richness that can only exist if you are living in the moment?

Does it mean simplifying your life, reducing consumption and reducing needs for resources? Does it mean stopping all human suffering, particularly that caused by dangerous products, hazardous activities, and destructive behaviors? Or does it mean simply lessening human suffering to "acceptable" levels?

Owl babies from the live Owl Cam

What about animal suffering? Does healing our world mean that we have to first agree on a definition for what it means for an animal to "suffer" and then end it?

I really don't know. I think healing cannot occur by simply reducing suffering to acceptable levels. Who could possibly define what is acceptable, anyway?

But others would disagree with me, particularly those who have a lot of money to make by disagreeing. And those who have a billion dollars to make from a business or practice that results in suffering will certainly disagree with me.

I don't know what healing our world means - but I do think it has something to do with somehow eliminating suffering. Or maybe at least it means to acknowledge the suffering, even if you cannot personally do anything about it.

I promote awareness of dark issues pretty heavily in my life. Such an intensified awareness causes me plenty of grief, to be sure. I often have a hard time coping with the awareness of all the blackness I see around me. Those around me often have a hard time as well. But I feel really strongly that we must make ourselves aware of suffering, but I am not sure exactly why. It hurts to be aware. It creates dissention in personal and professional relationships.

Why do it? I can't help but think that awareness of suffering has something to do with healing. Healing can come from unexpected places.

Does it do any good to be aware that by the year 2000, 50 million American women, and many more worldwide, will reach menopause? I think so. Many of these women, rather than be supported in a change of life that is powerful, meaningful, and often painful, a time when a woman's connection to the cycles of life is profoundly evident, will be diagnosed with a "disease" that must be treated medically.

Horses in their stalls at a pregnant mare urine farm in their stalls (Photo from HorseAid at http://www.igha.org/pmu_link.html)

This is great news for one pharmaceutical company, Wyeth-Ayerst, who makes over one billion dollars worldwide and expects that income to double by the year 2000. Their drug, Premarin, is the third most prescribed drug on planet Earth and the single most prescribed drug in the U.S. Today, nine million women take it.

Many readers will be familiar with this drug, often taken as part of hormone replacement therapy (HRT) to continue the supply of estrogen to the body after it has stopped. There are many alternatives to traditional HRT to help with the often painful symptoms that accompany menopause. But many physicians will never mention these alternatives due to the pressure by the drug manufacturer to prescribe Premarin.

A name can often reveal much: Premarin means PREgnant MARe urINe. Yes, you read that right. Since Premarin was introduced in 1942, over one million horses have suffered horribly so this drug could be made from the urine of pregnant mares.

Mares in stalls at a pregnant mare urine farm (Photo from Equine Advocates at http://www.allrealgood.com/equineadvocates/premarin.html)

Conjugated estrogen is extracted from the urine of horses from over 700 farms, in which approximately 80,000 horses live their entire lives penned in tiny stalls, unable to turn around or comfortably lie down, while being kept continuously pregnant.

They are deprived of water to intensify the concentration of estrogen in the urine and repeatedly impregnated. The foals are removed from them at birth, and most are killed or are sold as gourmet food in other countries. The mares are continuously connected to pouches that collect the urine. This arrangement often causes infections of their vulvas and chafing of their legs from the constant contact with the urine.

There are widespread reports of terrifying abuse of these horses by the people who operate their small farms on contract. Sadly, some mares live 12 to 15 years before death in these obscene conditions.

Mares with urine collectors Photo from Equine Advocates

To maximize profit, the drug manfacturer has successfully lobbied the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to impede synthetic manufacture of the hormone. This insures them a monopoly and continues the mares' suffering.

Many women may suffer as well, since doctors rarely mention alternative therapies or consider the effect that estrogen from a horse has on them. There are also many unknown ingredients in mares' urine, the effect of which on women is unknown. Some doctors speculate that Premarin, approved by the FDA 56 years ago, would never pass today.

I can't explain exactly why, but I think it is very important to know this. Suffering, animal or human, that is the result of greed is surely wrong. Inviting this painful awareness into our consciousness may seem overwhelming, but our minds can handle it. This awareness will never feel good. But we must expose ourselves to the reality of it. We must allow it in and feel the pain of it so, like a hunger, we will be moved to stop the practice.

Don't fear the confusion of not knowing what to do. Listen to your heart. Listen to the soul pain that this knowledge creates. Listen and make your own pain from the awareness go away by taking action. I don't think there is any other way we can heal our world. Do you?

RESOURCES

NOTE: The web resources below are presented for your information. I have done my best to present only those who appear credible, but one should always use caution when using information from the web, particularly in health care issues. Discuss any ideas you may have about changing your health care program with your health care practitioner BEFORE you change anything.

1. Call Wyeth-Ayerst in the United States (800) 666-7248 to protest how Premarin is produced. In Canada, call 215 971-5823. Write to Robert Essner, president of Wyeth-Ayerst, at P.O. Box 8299, Philadelphia, PA 19101 and let him know how you feel.

2. Visit http://www.igha.org/purveyor.html for a complete list of the products made by American Home Products, the owners of Wyeth-Ayerst. Write to let them know you are boycotting their products until they stop blocking work on synthetic replacements for Premarin and they cease their abusive practices on horses. Try e-mailing AHP at http://www.ahp.com/contact.htm

3. Write to Dr. Janet Woodcock at the FDA and express your demand for that agency's prompt approval of one or more synthetic or generic forms of Premarin to make them available to those who wish to use them. Write to her at: FDA, 5600 Fisher's Lane, Rockville, Maryland 20857. In addition to your hard-copy letter, email her at http://www.fda.gov/cder/comment/commentdrug.htm

4. Learn the full Premarin story from the Equine Advocates organization at http://www.allrealgood.com/equineadvocates/premarin.html, from HorseAid at http://www.igha.org/pmu_link.html, and from the United Animal Nations at http://www.uan.org/programs/premarin/index.htm

5. Get some of the latest Premarin news at http://athena.athenet.net/~nrsprntg/stpindex.html

6. Follow the FDA's attempts to synthesize conjugated estrogens at http://www.fda.gov/cder/news/cepage.htm

7. Learn about estrogen replacements at http://www.igha.org/synth.html 8. Read a detailed accounting of the politics behind Premarin at the site of Citizens Against Government Waste at http://www.cagw.org/Reports/prem.htm

9. Read of a horse rescue organization, the Pegasus Foundation at http://www.wanet.net/~pegasus/

10. Visit Menopause Online for complete information on alternatives to Premarin and substitutes for traditional hormone replacement therapy at http://www.menopause-online.com/. You should always discuss any treatment program with your health care practitioner before making any changes to the medication or program you are currently on.

11. Visit the Voices of Women website for interesting articles about the challenges for women at http://www.voiceofwomen.com/articles/articles.html

12. Find out who your Congressional representatives are and e-mail them. Tell them listen to force Wyeth-Ayerst to abandon the archaic and cruel way they obtain Premarin and move toward synthetic production. Remind them that insulin used to come from pigs until synthetic replacements were approved. If you know your Zip code, you can find them at http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ziptoit.html or you can search by state at http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html

13. Learn about the issues. Seek out books on the subject. A good source for used (and new) books is Powell’s Bookstore in Portland, Oregon at http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/associate?assoc_id=212 where you will find a wonderful alternative to the massive chain bookstores taking over the market.

14. Bookmark this website. Visit it often for ways we can all Heal Our World.