PETA has turned up the pressure on pharmaceutical giant Wyeth-Ayerst by enlisting the help of some of the world’s most well-known women. Wyeth’s estrogen-replacement drug may be widely prescribed, but actors Dame Judi Dench, Elizabeth Hurley, Bea Arthur, Sandra Bernhard, Linda Evans, Lindsay Wagner and many others say they “wouldn’t touch it with a 10-foot pole”!

Why not? Because Premarin, Prempro, Premphase and Prempak-C contain a nasty secret ingredient: They are made from pregnant mares’ urine! To let women know about the (PMU) cruelty in every such pill—and about safe and effective synthetic and plant-based estrogen drugs on the market—PETA is placing this star-studded ad in women’s magazines on both sides of the Atlantic.

Here’s what else we’ve been doing to put Premarin out to pasture—and how you can help.

World’s Oldest Freshman Gives Premarin a Failing Grade
Amy Sedaris, who plays 46-year-old high school freshman Jerri Blank on Comedy Central’s Strangers With Candy, stars in PETA’s latest Premarin mustache ad. Says Amy in our ad, “I may be the only girl in my high school going through menopause, but I’m not dumb enough to drink horse urine!”

“Tinkle”—Take Premarin or Just Drink It Straight!
Mo Gaffney, perhaps best known as the marriage counselor of Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser on Mad About You, joined PETA in a New York City demo to help us educate menopausal women about Premarin’s unappetizing ingredient. PETA has held other "Tinkle" demonstrations around the globe distributing our funny yellow medicine!

Arias for Animals
La Scala opera star Susan Daniel lent her voice to our campaign during a glittering evening at Brown’s Hotel in London. After showing PETA’s Premarin video and explaining why she had stopped taking Wyeth’s bitter pill, Ms. Daniel sang to an admiring audience.

Eye-Catching Ad “Stalls” Sales
PETA will be placing this hard-to-miss ad in women’s magazines, asking readers to imagine spending their pregnancies in a cramped stall, then having their babies taken away and killed—exactly what mares on PMU farms endure year after year.

What’s Wrong With Premarin?
To produce Premarin and its sister drugs (Prempro, Premphase and Prempak-C), tens of thousands of pregnant mares are confined to tiny stalls for six months at a stretch. Some “lucky” mares receive exercise every few weeks; others don’t see daylight for months. Farmers are even encouraged to limit horses’ drinking water so that their urine will yield more concentrated estrogens, a practice that can cause mares to suffer from kidney and liver problems. Within days of giving birth, the mares are reimpregnated; many go through this harrowing cycle for more than 20 years.

What happens to the foals? A few are used to replace worn-out mares on what farmers call “pee lines,” but most are sent to feedlots where they are fattened, then slaughtered for meat. Claude Bouvry, Canada’s leading horsemeat exporter, says the pregnant mares’ urine (PMU) industry is his “biggest source of supply.”

These horses do not have to die! Numerous safe and effective synthetic and plant-based alternatives to Premarin already exist.

8 Easy Actions You Can Take: 1 If you’re taking Premarin, Prempro, Premphase or Prempak-C, switch to one of the many plant-based or synthetic estrogen drugs. 2 Talk to your friends and relatives about Premarin’s hidden cruelty. Premarin mares spend months in cramped stalls. 3 Ask your doctor to stop prescribing Premarin, Prempro, Premphase and Prempak-C. 4 Write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper to educate others about Premarin and its alternatives. 5 Send us a picture of yourself holding an “I’m Off Premarin” or “I’ll Never Take Premarin” sign for us to collect and show to Wyeth-Ayerst. 6 Contact PETA for a free Premarin pack. 7 Visit our Premarin Web site www.MenopauseOnline.com. 8 Call or write Wyeth-Ayerst and let the company know what you think! • In the U.S., contact Joseph M. Mahady, President, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories, P.O. Box 8299, Philadelphia, PA 19101; 800-666-7248. • In the UK, contact Don Barrett, Director of Corporate Affairs, Wyeth Laboratories, Huntercombe Lane S., Taplow, Maidenhead, Berkshire SL6 OPH. • In Canada, write Dr. Baumgartner, President, Wyeth-Ayerst, 110 Sheppard Ave. E., North York, Ontario M2N 6R5; 416-225-7500.