Factlet (18)

 
Menopause and Mares
  "Factlets" are usually short and this one should be. The subject of menopause is not one which I should "appropriate" and the part about mares may be known by most women and not need much in the way of explanation. To ensure brevity I will also not try to explain why I was reading an article about menopause. It is in it that I found this startling (to me) statistic which is our Factlet for today. 
   In 2002, a medical study suggested that there could be some risks for postmenopausal women who were taking estrogen to reduce the conditions associated with menopause. Here is the startling part, particularly the bolded parenthetical portion: 
    "The findings made global headlines, and millions of women who had been prescribed estrogen-based drugs quit them on the spot. (Another consequence was that tens of thousands of factory-farmed horses were no longer needed for their urine; many were sent to slaughter.) Hormone-therapy research went into a tailspin, although, even at the time, a more thorough reading of the numbers revealed a far less scary picture."
   For any male readers who may not have been aware of the source for the estrogen, here is some additional background: 
   "When it was discovered that estrogen could be supplied not just by expectant women but by expectant horses, commercial production of the hormone took off. Premarin, approved by the F.D.A. in 1942 to treat menopausal symptoms, soon dominated the market, its innocuous-seeming name barely disguising its primary ingredient, pregnant mares’ urine. By the end of the twentieth century, Premarin was consistently the first or second most prescribed drug in the United States, beating out medications for common ailments like high blood pressure and diabetes, with an estimated forty per cent of women of postmenopausal age taking it or an alternative estrogen formulation."
   The source for this information is an article in The New Yorker, which explains why I happened upon it. Given that the fact checkers at The New Yorker are known to be overly diligent, I wasn't concerned about the accuracy of this Factlet. But, for those of you who don't trust publications published in New York, I will provide a couple of sources from the hinterlands. As well, I will provide the citation for the original article which offers a literature review of books about menopause since apparently many women don't know much about it either.
The Bonus: 
  I couldn't resist providing this: those doctors and clinicians studying this subject are known as the "Menoposse."
Sources: 
   "Menopause is Having a Moment: If You've Got Ovaries, You'll Go Through It: So Why Does Every Generation Think It's the First to Have Hot Flashes," Rebecca Mead, The New Yorker, March 3, 2025.
   "When Menopause, Horse Urine and Ethics Intersect: Generation Now: You May Be Surprised at How Horses are Linked to Women's Health," Shelby Watson-Hampton, Farm Progress, May 2, 2025.
   "Menopause, Horses, and the Industry of Death,' Gregory McNamee, ExploreBritannica.com, N.D.
For additional Factlets: A Few More Factlets.