Drugs in Horsemeat

If horse slaughter in the U.S. for sale as meat for human consumption to foreign markets does not alarm you, please read the following, submitted by someone well versed on medications in horses.

I am in a unique position, having been a drug rep/ and pharmaceutical advisor for 18 yrs. to veterinarians. My products include euthanasia solution and various other popular therapeutic agents. I have worked closely with equine doctors at many nationally recognized horse events. I worked on the Horse Park in ‘96, and most major 3 day events. I have been an active horse owner and a recent PMU foal adopter.

The horse slaughter industry is nothing more than subsidized bad management. It is an "Enabler" to poor choices and accountability. We don't get to take our unwanted puppies to the pound and get paid by the weight to process and euthanize them. They are not eaten as a delicacy afterwards. One pro slaughter listed horse meat as a necessary food source, but everyone calls it a delicacy that is very expensive. I can honestly tell you that euthanasia solution costs less than a meal for two at a chain restaurant. The syringe costs 50 cents. If you have been a good customer of your vet he should do the euthanasia for around $125. Just so you know, he may be more nervous about this than you are. Most equine doctors love horses and find euthanasia very stressful - from the pharmaceutical point of view. I know what drugs are being put into horses and they should never go for human consumption. Look up the side effects on Isoxsuprine, Clenbuterol, Trimethsulfa, Gentocin, Lasix, Acepromazine, Xylazine, Dormosedan, Bannamine, Baytrill 100, Omeprazole, Dexamethasone, and antihistamines. These are all found in quantity in a lot of the racing stock; this is just the legal stuff. Then there is the compounded stuff like Erythro hip, copper something, iron something - the list goes on. I wonder what the shippers give them to get them to the processing plants in one piece? Horses needing these drugs are usually on their last legs and off to the meat packer the next week. Where is the drug testing of the meat in any of this?

A relatively new and popular way of diagnosing bone injuries in horses is nuclear bone scanning which results in an injection of low level radioactive dye. The scan is based on the uptake of these dyes. Guess who gets this the most? Track horses and high performance horses. I don't know what the shelf life of it is in a horse but they stay in clinic for 24-48 hrs. I can't begin to imagine that oral /gastronomical factors were ever considered for these products as they were originally designed for human use, and we don't eat people.....Does the FDA have a contingency plan for the introduction of exposed horse flesh to the European market? Do they even know to test for it? After what is going on in London today, I suspect that is the last thing any Frenchman wants on his plate. Bon appetite! Except for the label that says “not for human consumption” or “intended for slaughter” is this issue addressed. With any drugs. If I were a European, I wouldn't touch the stuff. American beef is much safer than horse meat. Cows are generally not treated for lameness. When ranchers who breed horses like cows can no longer get 50cents a pound they will start breeding responsibly. A horse life is not money in the bank - It is a friend you paid for....The horse market may drop out for a while, but then it should come back with better quality and a better market based on sound investment of knowledgeable breeding and care. Why should anyone get paid to ruin and neglect a horse?

I have contacted both my senators and I believe they are on board. My congressman is unfortunately behind the times, but was up for re-election and I did not vote for him. I have 4 horses from top producing American and Polish sires. They were cast offs of a bad market that lost its tax shelter. I have a breeding to a top 10 stallion I can use. I will not. There are plenty of good horses needing homes.

The most shocking thing that I have read lately was about the girl who took her barrel horse to slaughter. She was given a tour of the plant as if it were his retirement home. I hope she stood there and looked him in the eye. Two years ago, I lost a good mare to a freak lightning storm. The other horses were devastated. I let them say goodbye. One older gelding would not even enter the pasture where she lay. He was terrified and sniffing the air from 200 feet away. He whinnied, bolted sideways, ran in circles and we took him back to the barn. It was right then that I knew how incredibly cognitive horses really are. I can't even begin to imagine him in a processing plant. He would have killed himself long before his final walk. Those horses that do go all the way have incredible dignity and trust of people. To bury the mare it cost me $70.00. Many people who own heavy equipment are sympathetic to the problem and will do it for very little cost. I am wondering when and why news stations will ever show the actual process of euthanasia of animals, and horses in processing plants. How fast all of this would come to an end. My mother could not even watch the video of the PMU mares in barns wearing their urine collection devices.

Really and truly, Americans who love horses are being held emotional hostage by foreign owned, American subsidized, European opportunists who are exploiting
our free enterprise system. In essence, the French and Belgian owned slaughter facilities are running and setting the market value of the average American horse. In a free country, American horse lovers have never known a day that their every decision for their horses has not been a carefully orchestrated attempt to keep them out of the meat buyers’ hands. In over 100 years no generation has ever had the pleasure of knowing it was ok to sell a horse or give it away and it not end up at a meat auction. I truly believe that if horse slaughter was banned, then horse hoarding and neglect would go away. We deserve that freedom from foreign intrusion. We expect so much from our horse companion this is the least we can do. Thank you for your consideration.

To understand more about the legal use of drugs in horses, visit:

The Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, Inc.

and

RaceHorseDrugs.com