This well-known quotation was aptly used to condemn the pharmaceutical giant, Wyeth, in a riveting article published in 2002 by the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ), widely regarded as the most highly respected medical publication in Canada. It was one of countless articles written about the abrupt halt to the PMU arm of the Women's Health Initiative (WHI), a study of the effects hormone replacement therapy (HRT) in menopausal women. Not only did the CMAJ article condemn Wyeth, but it added "...the message for healthy women without severe symptoms of menopause is now clear: To avoid as far as possible HRT, which on balance does more harm than good..." The findings of the WHI concluded that the use of PMU drugs increases the risks of breast cancer, heart disease, heart attacks, stokes, blood clots and dementia.

Life for PMU mares is brutal. An estimated one-fourth are replaced each year, although the typical lifespan of the draft breeds used on most of the PMU factory farms in Canada is twenty years or more. The mares are repeatedly impregnated, and for six months of each 11-month pregnancy most are confined in stalls that prohibit turning around, grooming themselves and comfortably lying down. Their water intake is often regulated to produce maximum estrogen-rich urine. The mares are continually attached to plumbing which is designed to fit over their urethras. It is held in place with movement-restricting body straps. When mares can no longer adequately "produce," most are sold for slaughter. Most of their surviving foals are either pulled and raised as "Pee Line" replacements or sold at auction for slaughter.

Since 1942, when this industry first began, it is conceivable that millions of horses have suffered and died as a result. We will never know exactly how many have been slaughtered, but we do know that since the dramatic revelations of the WHI have been publicized, sales of estrogen and hormone replacement PMU drugs, including Premarin, Prempro and Premphase, have plummeted. Recent studies have shown that taking hormones for five years doubles the risk for breast cancer. This finding was part of a new analysis of the WHI presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December, 2008.

Could this be the end of the lines? ...the PMU lines, that is? Not if Wyeth has anything to do with it. Wyeth has a brand new, low-dose PMU drug called Aprela, which, if approved in 2009 by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), would escalate the production of PMU drugs, resulting in the use, abuse and deaths of significantly more horses annually. Massive protests are in order, not just against Wyeth’s escalation of this horrendous business, but against the FDA, which should no longer be approving drugs made from PMU, especially since they contain impurities which their own maker, after 67 years, still cannot identify! In the meantime, the FDA is trying to stop women from taking bio-identical hormones which are made in compounding pharmacies and are regarded by many medical professionals to be much safer while not involving equine abuse. In addition, there are numerous other medications now available that are made in laboratories that do not involve horses and which are recommended by doctors. (Please Note: Equine Advocates is not endorsing or recommending any particular medication. All questions of a medical nature should be taken up with your doctor.) Our best hope is that Pfizer ends the PMU industry if it buys Wyeth out.