HORMONE REPLACEMENT THERAPHY, PREMARIN AND PREMPAK C

That this House is alarmed by reports which indicate that to enable hormone replacement treatment drugs Premarin and Prempak C to be made their Canadian manufacturer, pharmaceutical giant Wyeth-Ayerst is paying farmers sums exceeding ú6 per gallon for oestrogen rich urine, produced from pregnant mares kept tightly tethered in stable stalls for up to six months of the year; notes that at the present time there are in excess of 500 such farms in Canada alone cultivating urine in this way, with more than 60,000 mares producing 50,000 foals each year, 85 per cent, of which are slaughtered because they are found to have no other practical use; finds such practices unacceptable in the modern world, especially as HRT drugs can now be created with equal ease from synthetic or plant-based ingredients; and calls upon Her Majesty's Government immediately to take steps to ban these products from Britain as the first steps towards a world-wide ban on all drugs produced by such disgraceful practices and neglect.