For Immediate Release:
April 20, 2005

Contact:
Michael McGraw 757-622-7382

Morristown, N.J. — Shareholders of pharmaceutical giant Wyeth will vote on a resolution submitted by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) at the company’s annual meeting tomorrow. PETA and six of its members are using their stock holdings to propose a resolution to protect the mares used to make the company’s estrogen-replacement drug Premarin and related products, as well as their foals, who are often sold to slaughter:

Date: Thursday, April 21
Time: 9:30 a.m.
Place: Headquarters Plaza Hotel, 3 Headquarters Plz., Morristown, N.J.

The pregnant mares used in the production of Premarin (whose name derives from "pregnant mares’ urine") are confined to stalls with rubber urine-collection bags strapped to their groins, unable to turn around or lie down comfortably for upwards of six months a year. When their worn-out bodies can no longer produce the amount of estrogen needed, they are slaughtered. The foals suffer as well. Male foals are fattened and sold for slaughter for the food market in Asia, and the females are sold for slaughter or used to replace their mothers on the production lines.

Sales of Premarin and related products have seen a dramatic decrease in market demand since a July 2002 announcement from the Women’s Health Initiative that taking products made from pregnant mare urine leads to a significant increase in the risks of heart attacks, strokes, blood clots, and breast cancer. PETA’s resolution requests that Wyeth’s board discontinue the promotion of these products in the interests of women’s health and that Wyeth adopt a policy that protects all mares used in the production of these products—including placing mares in caring homes or surrendering them to rescue organizations.

PETA has effectively used shareholder resolutions to gain major commitments from several restaurant chains—including McDonald’s, Wendy’s, and Denny’s—to adopt recommendations that would end some of the worst farming and slaughter abuses of animals by the companies’ suppliers. Filing resolutions has also led to productive discussions on animal-testing issues between PETA’s science advisors and representatives of ExxonMobil, Monsanto, Dow, and Johnson & Johnson.

"Wyeth has profited enormously from products made from pregnant mares’ urine," says PETA Vice President Mary Beth Sweetland. "The time has come for Wyeth to admit the adverse health consequences of these products and to end the cruelty to the mares and the foals they produce."

For more information, please visit PETA’s Web site StopAnimalTests.com.