Horse Blood, Fertility Drugs, and Me (Part 3)
Animal Cruelty Justified by Commercial Meat Production
This story is continued from Part 1 and Part 2.
Here’s a quick overview to refresh your memory. While traveling in Iceland, my partner and I worked for a farmer. On two occasions, we helped him collect up to five liters of blood from dozens of pregnant mares. Conditions for the animals (and the workers) weren’t ideal. Upon further research, they weren’t as nearly bad as they could be. What was going on?
Tapping the veins of pregnant mares is a money maker.
The five liters of blood we collected from each mare contains a valuable hormone called Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin (PMSG). In Europe, it is illegal to harvest PMSG for use in pharmaceuticals. However, that does not stop pharmaceutical companies from manufacturing PMSG-based drugs, which European companies use in their product.
Instead, this blood is primarily harvested in South American countries like Argentina and Uruguay, and oddly enough, Iceland. The practice is illegal in Europe, and Iceland is part of Europe, however not all European laws apply to the island. It is possible (I can’t find documentation that says one way or the other) that it is legal to harvest PMSG in Iceland.
