Story by Steven Long ~ Publisher/Editor of Horseback Magazine
“Slaughterhouse” Sue Wallis Will Be Eating Crow
Phenylbutazone, a human carcinogen, is prevalent in U.S. horse meat, along with numerous other drugs banned by the FDA in food animals. (photo: Animal Rescue Unit)
HOUSTON, (Horseback) – Despite claims by pro-horse slaughter activists who would seemingly put a slaughterhouse on every rural main street, the market for American horse meat just dwindled to almost nothing. The European Union released its 2013 regulations for meat imported into the 27 countries.
Under the new regulations, all horses and burros destined for slaughter and export to Europe must have a passport that shows they are free from substances such as phenalbutazone (bute), and clenbuterol. Such substances never leave an animal’s body and are carcinogens. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration bans their use in all food animals.
Almost all U.S. horses have been administered a dose of bute during their lifetime.
The EU is putting teeth into strict enforcement of regulations that began in 2010 when the European nations warned horses coming to those countries from abroad must be in full compliance within three years. That time span has nearly lapsed.
The strict new passport regulations are contained in a European Commission document titled Imports of Animals and Food of Animal Origans From Non-EU Countries.
Horse slaughter activists such as Wyoming State Rep. Sue Wallis have been ignoring the European recommendations. That will now be impossible.
In an additional blow to the budding U.S. horse meat industry, it was learned today, July 31st, that the Europeans have also have found Bute and Clinbuterol in Canadian horse product exported to Europe.
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
lets pray the days of deciet are over, that laws really do make the killers responsible.
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I agree! What blessed news! But, this is all with caution. Rejected horses could be left to starve to death so there will be a new war to fight, but it will be a welcome one. Focus needs to also be on responsible breeding. TYG!!! I suggest we buy up the Bute and offer it to every horse that can be found!
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Yay,,,,its about time the medicial aspect sank in!!!!
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We won? Really? OMG !! THAT’S TERRIFIC!!!!
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This is great news! Our mustangs are still in danger though because of their wild and natural status. What’s to say that these shyster horse killers won’t forge documentation on our domestic horsrs as well. There are plenty of crooked vets out there.
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Here’s an idea…….Collect all the bute containers/ wormers or syringes marked with medications “not for slaughter” that you can find and casually drop them by mustang pens or areas. Let the experts try to draw blood on those horses to see if they’ve been given the the stuff.
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Good Idea, but the BLM will never allow us that close to the Mustangs ………………..
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Our mustangs are full of parasites. This is one of the reasons that wild horses and burros die at an earlier age than domestic horses. I have read that the average life span of a wild horse is around 15. I do not know if that is still an accurate figure, but it is not uncommon for domestic horses to live into their 30’a.
Horses not raised for food will be dangerous for different reasons. Cattle are treated with for parasites. Goats are extremely fragile and will die if not properly treated for parasites. We have all heard of trichinosis in pork—it is also prevalent in horse meat not raised for food. While theoretically wild horse meat might be safer than domestic horse meat. Given that parasites are becoming a real problem for cattle as well as horse owners due to the immunity parasites have developed, I would be very cautious about pronouncing wild horse meat as safe.
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OMG this is wonderful news !!!!!!!!!
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I for one think every horse born in the U.S. should be treated with Bute now…one time dose, then “Bute treated” stamped on their behinds. That way they can never be put in the slaughter line…extreme, but hey, whatever works!
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Dear Catherine , GREAT Thinking i Love your Idea……………………………
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I give Bute to every horse I acquire. If they force the passport system on us I think I will start going to the auctions to buy horses give them Bute and then resell them as not for slaughter. I bet there are a lot of us that could do this making even more horses Ineligible for slaughter.
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every little bit helps us with the anti slaugter campaign. So does all the “meat” go to Europe or does most of it go to feed zoo animals and such? Does anyone know this? And Catherine Penn, I love that idea!
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A large majority goes to Europe now (not sure of the % but it is high). So if Europe won’t be taking it, it will go to Mexico and their local markets.Not EU regulated plants, which I think is several. But the mount that that market can take will not be enough for slaughter horse growers to keep in business. The profit factor will not be there. That’s at least how I figure it.
As for zoo’s, again it is too small of a market to keep a slaughter houses in full time business and besides the zoo’s want good meat, non-toxic. They don’t want to feed their animals horse meat that could kill them. And that is why the market for horse meat for zoo’s hasn’t been enough to keep the plants going. If our horses can’t go to the EU market then their is no market for them. PERIOD!!!
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I think you’re right about the local Mexican slaughter plants. There won’t be nearly enough profit to make it worthwhile for the killers I wouldn’t think. Not only a smaller market, but they won’t pay as much per horse as the EU.
The market for horse meat at zoos is small and getting smaller. Many are going to beef. Besides, that market would definitely be too small to support even one plant.
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Canada also has legislation pending (C-322) to shut down equine slaughter. If that happens, the Mexican market could be flooded and prices could plummet. This is bad news for ss who wants to feed toxic meat to prisoners and school children. Now we need to get our horses safe from horrid cruelty of slaughter pipeline.
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http://www.thunderinghooves.info/index.html
Alpine, Texas
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Wild Horse Freedom Federation will be there, also, RJ…
R.T. Fitch Author – “Straight from the Horse’s Heart” President of the Wild Horse Freedom Federation The Force of the Horse®, LLC 1-800-974-FOTH http://www.rtfitch.com http://www.rtfitchauthor.com http://www.wildhorsefreedomfederation.org
>________________________________
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So, besides USA and Canada, next what Europe knows if not yet is horsemeat from Mexico…cause loads of horses ending up there originates from the USA.
Good…. then lets see how the breeding concept and thinking can be altered.
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Rob, the Mexican plants are EU regulated so they would fall under the 2013 regs that were just released. There are some local plants but the majority of US horses go to the EU plants – that’s where the big bucks are.
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Naturally it’s being found in Canadian horse meat products. Look how many of the horses killed in Canada came from the US! Of course, the *good folks* who support domestic slaughter will start lobbying Congress to ban the sale of the prohibited substances…and perhaps they’ll start a sideline business fabricating bogus passports.
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Someone already has corned the market on bogus passports.
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Thank you lord for such good news.
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Now if we could help the thousands of wild horses in holding pens, I doubt they get any bute.
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Wendy, they may not get bute, in some cases they probably do, but they do get wormed and they do get vaccinated and other drugs as well. So they are out. And as Vicki says below, wild zebras are the only equidae that will be allowed.
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Dear Lynnette I believe when the EU Regulations say American horses are out , they mean all of them ….
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Dear Wendy, The Wild Mustangs may not get bute, But the BLM has done plenty of Drug giving to them PZP and many others all are Drugs that have adverse effects on Humans…………The BLM has cut their own throat on this one !!!! YEA !!!!!!
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Wendy, many of the horses have received bute for injuries and they are also wormed. Both drugs are banned in horses intended for food. In addition, the EU prohibits all wild equidae meat except zebra meat. Of course, I wouldn’t put it past the PSAs to start painting black and white stripes on our Mustangs….
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EU regs prohibit all wild equidae meat except zebra meat.
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Dear Vicki , was just going to ask where this leaves 45,000 plus Wild Mustangs the Corrupt BLM has in Holding !!!!!!???????
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Hi, Arlene. Sorry for the short comment. I was typing on my phone and it would have taken me until next year to type more than one sentence – LOL! The regulation is in this document – the original communication from the EU Commission – page 3, paragraph 3 – http://equinewelfarealliance.org/uploads/EU_Import_Regulations_letter.pdf. Keep in mind, many of the horses in long term holding have had bute for injuries as well as being wormed so they are not all drug free. The EU regulation is very clear. No wild equidae meat except zebra meat.
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Dear Vicki this is even better news !!! Thank You for taking the time to send it !!!!!!!!! It was my first thought What about the Mustangs , with 45, thousand +in holding …scared me for a minute !!!!!!
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Sorry to be a bit of a wet blanket here, but you can *bet* that the horsemeat industry is NOT going to just ‘go away’ because of this — horsemeat representatives, like Ms Wallis and her flying monkeys, along with the politicians and lobbyists that are ’employed’ by the Cattle and livestock industry are simply going to either 1.) find a way to go around these regulations (which Canada and the KB’s have already been doing for some time now — i.e., forged EID’s) or 2.) find another market that does not have the passport requirements (i.e., china and other asian countries) or 3.) attempt to implement some kind of qualifying passport system here.
Wish I was wrong, but you really need to think like a criminal to keep pace with these losers.
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Paige,
I agree with you that you must think like a criminal to keep pace. Also the kill buyers who haul horses…they are scum and twist and break the laws at every turn. They are all scum and pos and we must fight them forever until they are broken and go out of business.
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Yes this is true but the EU knows all the tricks and now since bute has been found in horse meat from June I beleive, it will cut down on it. If they have all these things to comply with to be legal it makes it harder on them with every rule that gets past. It will take some out of the market just because they don’t want to risk getting caugh and complying means less profit. It will only make the people like the Three Angels guy have to work harder to stay away from being detected.
Without the EU market there is not enough demand to make horse slaughter profitible.
And I’m sure they will try to get a passport system going but it will be costly and take a few years since they will have to start with foals in the system and it will be a few years before they start to go to slaughter. Less then two years ago they canceled the NAIS because no one applied. It will be some time for all this to get straighten out and by then their will be far less unwanted horses since no one is breeding now and with the nationwide drought few will start. The profit in horse slaughter gets smaller with each day as does the market with each report of banned drugs from in the horse meat.
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Au contraire, some are breeding with very expensive chilled semen and other equine assistive reproductive technologies, not to mention cloning.
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It was about time that they find something and do something about it. The europeans.
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Yes, this is good news, but I agree with Paige Pearson and you can bet with the EU market becoming for “difficult for distribution so to speak” there is always China. We have to keep battling on; it is far from over.
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WoW !!! This Is Great News *
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This is great news and underscores the significance of the drug residue issue. Charlie Stenholm is trying to tell members of Congress and state legislators and anyone else that the drugs used in livestock production can be safely used as long as people follow the prescribed waiting times.
We must educate people about the significance of residues. I spent some studying Ivermectin, and discovered (you are smarter than I am, so you probably know this, but…) but there is an ion in Ivermectin that bonds with an ion in the meat tissues and it is this bonding that causes some Ivermectin to remain in the meat of the animal. I would image the degree to which one substance bonds with another depends on several different factors.
We must all become educated about the USDA’s FSIS National Residue Program and understand that these drugs banned by the European Union are also banned in the US and they are tested for in beef. Interestingly enough, the drugs that the National Residue Program tests for change. I do not know if they change from year to year or how often, but I know that some of the drugs like phenylbutazone and Ivermectin which were part of the 2010 program have been removed from the current list. At an not to be quoted or used for official policy meeting about the FSIS, someone asked if the program was really necessary since the numbers of positives were low (for beef, so the the drugs aren’t supposed to be there period—per FDA regulations—not in food animals). The answer was that the number of positives would likely be higher, but because we do not have efficient tests some positives are probably not found.
The fact that we have this program and that there are positive tests for banned substances in beef indicates that Sue Wallis’s followers who insisted these drugs were safe in cows must not be alone. To test this theory, I talked with a couple of producers in my area and was told that there are producers who would hesitate to put cows on the truck (to be slaughtered that day or the next) before their drug withdrawal time had expired.
Ivermectin disrupts neurotransmitters in the brain, and there are many conditions such as ADD, ADHD, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, and Fibromyalgia that are not well understood—they seem to have become much more prevalent in the past 20 to 30 years. There are also conditions such as autism that seems to have increased exponentially over the same time period. MS is another condition that is poorly understood. Could the source of these conditions be undetected residues of banned drugs in the food animals American’s eat?
In Central America tens of thousands of agricultural workers are dying of kidney disease. Are they eating beef and horse meat that the EU would not accept?
I’m not sure eating local is the total answer if our local farmers do not follow FDA guidelines. I am not sure how we attack this subject, but this is where the USDA needs to put its resources.
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Correction—producers who would not hesitate to put a cow on truck
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Hopefully this latest bit of information will help us reach our goal of banning horse slaughter all together.
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When it comes to animals having to endure long and tedious journeys abroad without food, water and rest the EU stinks. The passport however, with its strict rules and regulations is spot on. Thank God the EU has got it right, on the latter.
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While this is good news for domestic horses that are routinely vaccinated and given de-wormers, this may be VERY BAD for our Mustangs. I fear people justifying the gathers and slaughter of the mustangs since they contain less toxic substances than domestic horses. As for someone’s suggestion that they will ban items like bute, ivermectin, moxidectin, praziquantel and other de-wormers – that won’t happen. It would mean countless sick domestic horses – some of them used in professional competitions.
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Mary, as someone mentioned above, the EU regulations state NO wild equidae except of zebra meat.
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Unless the wild horses have been branded – seems to me KBs could get around the EU regs regarding wild equidae. Thats the only obvious way to identify them. And ANY horse going thru this pipeline is apt to be scared out of the wits & out of control. I just am worried that whatever good this EU regulating will do – somebody will come up with a way around it. Money & Greed. And Mary, youre right – not possible to ban all of those substances. Too many people use them – and most of those people (not all) care enough about their horses that they would put up a fight. Maybe become more aware of this whole mess. Scary – how unaware many horse people are of the slaughter problem. Guess they dont think it applies to them. How wrong is that?
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It seems the regulations every year are about the same but nothing seems to change for the horses. This news is really no news unless they are going to start enforcing their own rules and regulations.
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