EU Parli­ament opposes livestock medicine of horse blood


14 Μαρτίου 2016

The European Parliament wants to ban the import of the livestock medicine Pregnant Mare Serum Gonadotropin (PMSG), for which pregnant horses are deprived from their blood. The Party for the Animals’ proposal to amend EU legislation to such extend that PMSG is no longer welcome in Europe was broadly supported by the European Parliament.

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PMSG, a hormone made of the blood of pregnant mares, is used in the Dutch and German livestock industry among other countries to improve the reproduction of animals. To produce the hormone, the so-called ‘blood farms’ in Argentina and Uruguay systematically extract large volumes of blood from pregnant mares. Animal welfare foundation Eyes on Animals recently found major abuses in this industry. Unborn foils of blood horses are prematurely aborted or squeezed to death. And the mother horses become very thin and grow weak because of excessive blood extraction.

PMSG production is no longer permitted in Europe because of the cruel method of production. “The European Parliament wants to no longer permit the import of livestock medicine for which animals outside of Europe have been mistreated. Very encouraging. The abuse of pregnant horses is just not acceptable. Not in Europe and not outside of Europe,” said MEP Anja Hazekamp.

It is up to the European Commission, the daily EU government, to accept the European Parliament’s request and to ban the import of PMSG and other problematic livestock medicine.