Blood farms in South America – behind walls the torture business continues

Blood farms in South America. Here, the blood hormone PMSG is harvested for European pharmaceutical companies. The production is extremely cruel. Up to 10 litres of blood are taken from pregnant mares every week, during a period of 11 to 12 weeks. After 3.5 months of pregnancy, the foals are aborted so that the mares can be impregnated and used for blood harvesting twice a year. About 20.000 foals are aborted in Argentina and Uruguay every year. In Uruguay, the abortion is usually done manually. In Argentina, the mares receive an injection. In both cases, the mares are left to their own devices during the abortion. Due to their weakness (anaemia) after the blood extraction season, a lot of mares do not survive the process. Up to 30% of the mares die every year.
In Europe, the companies HIPRA in Spain and ZOETIS in Italy sell PMSG products to pig breeders. The hormone synchronizes the oestrus of the sows and the births. After our first publication in 2015, the US company MSD was the first pharmaceutical company to stop the import of PMSG from South America (January 2017), the German company IDT Biologika followed this year on 17th July and the French company CEVA on 3rd August.
Animal Welfare Foundation and Tierschutzbund Zürich have been investigating about PMSG production for years, after discovering blood mares in South American slaughterhouses. Their meat ends up on European plates. We continue with our campaign until HIPRA and ZOETIS stop the import as well. HIPRA sells its products in several European countries, including Germany.