Information supplied by the Equine Welfare Alliance
Equine instructors face off against medical experts over horse meat
Horse Eating Teachers Flunk on Truth
Chicago (EWA) – In a press release yesterday titled “Equine Scientists Debunk Horsemeat Health Risk Claims”, United Horsemen (UH), an extremist pro horse slaughter group, cited a letter from four equine instructors ostensibly written to the Journal of Food and Chemical Toxicology complaining about the accuracy of the landmark study that found that the meat derived from horses administered the carcinogen phenylbutazone (PBZ/bute) is being shipped to the European Union for human consumption.
In an embarrassing attempt to discredit the peer reviewed paper, Association of phenylbutazone usage with horses bought for slaughter: A public health risk, the instructors cherry picked facts to make their case, but merely succeeded in demonstrating the risk of offering a professional opinion outside of one’s area of expertise.
None of the authors of the UH letter are medical doctors and they provided no information that is contrary to the mandate by the EU and FDA banning Phenylbutazone in all food producing animals, including horses.
The letter begins by stating the paper’s authors did not cite the levels of Phenylbutazone (PZB, bute) in the study horses. But there are no acceptable levels. One only needs to prove the administration of bute at any time in the horse’s life to make the horse ineligible for human consumption. The paper by Drs. Marini (PhD/MD neurology), Dodman (PhD/DVM) and Blondeau (PhD in neuroscience), did exactly that. The study proved without doubt, through tracing race track drug records, that horses given bute are making their way into the food supply.
In the letter, the equine scientists/instructors pasted revelations, such as the rapid rate at which bute disappears from the blood stream, ignoring the fact that the same information was presented in the study paper, and omitting details like the fact that phenylbutazone metabolizes into oxyphenylbutazone (also linked to blood dyscrasias such as aplastic anemia) which persists much longer, or that phenylbutazone is taken up in injured tissue were it may later be released back into the bloodstream.
The letter concludes by casting McCarthyisms on all who were mentioned in the paper, incorrectly stating, for example, that EWA’s John Holland (who provided historical data on the slaughter industry) was “linked to PETA”.
If these equine instructors intend to put a plug into the growing wellspring of revelations about the dangers of US horse meat, they will have their work cut out for them. A recent paper issued by Irish Veterinarians further cement the dangers of bute and the disciplinary action to veterinarians for sending an animal to slaughter that has been administered bute.
The paper states “The difficulty with phenylbutazone is that it, or its metabolite, can cause aplastic anemia in children. If a child were to consume an animal-based product containing even the minutest amount of bute or its metabolite [oxyphenylbutazone] then the child may develop aplastic anemia.”
In addition, the paper warns, “It is a statement of fact that if the European Commission on its audit of this country find evidence of bute use in animals not excluded from the food chain, then the product will immediately lose its license Europe-wide. If samples prove positive for phenylbutazone or its metabolite in equine meat of Irish origin, it will be traced back, and the prescribing veterinary practitioner will be in the firing line of prosecution.”
Only a week ago Food Production Daily exposed the risk of tainted horse meat in an article titled Tainted US horse meat puts world consumers at risk.
“US horses are not raised as meat animals”, said EWA spokesperson Vicki Tobin, “It is just that simple. If we want to keep sending our horses to slaughter, we will have to give up most of the effective medications we currently enjoy.”
Related articles
- Polls and Petitions Reflect America’s Humane Love for Equines (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Anti-Horse Wyoming Politician Promotes Fraud Against President and Congress on Facebook (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- GAO Follows Horse Slaughter Lobby Down the Rabbit Hole (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
- Desperate Wyoming Horse Eater Shows Her Burro In Illogical and Inhumane Rant (rtfitch.wordpress.com)
Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
Alright everyone, if you can get on the United Horsemen’s FB page, go and give them this research. They did nothing but call us liars and other names over the last few days. So here is their researched proof, let them have it.
Thanks John and Vicki! You guys ROCK! PETA likes you too John! : )
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Will someone please sue Sue….for slander?!?!
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Thank you for your quick rebuttal to their lying, joke of an attempt to discredit the original research and researchers. SS is really sliming deeper and deeper into the muck. Denise I would love to see this group of scurvilous sewer scum and their bag of lies brought into court. She don’t get it–the USDA and all other governmental food watchdogs say bute is not allowed PERIOD, the end.
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Well, the editor over at Horseback says, no matter how ignorant or stupid the UH/UOH/SS comments/propaganda….it’s a “free speech” thing. I commented that…”yeah, but you can’t yell fire in a crowded theater when there is no fire.”
I thought saying someone is related to other orgs (to discredit that individual), when it is false fits somewhere between First Amendment and causing harm as in yelling fire, right? But I’m not a constitutional authority or an attorney.
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Good question Denise. Pro slaughter has attacked me all week for posting wordpress reports and commenting on them. The report of Sue Wallis’s absurd interview got me blocked on FB for responding in comment section that KB’s do in fact shop craigs list and rescues contact people who have them in ads for free or cheap to warn them of potential kill buyers got me blocked after being reported. Also pictures of horses with horrific injuries sustained in slaughter transport got me blocked after being reported. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know only pro slaughter would object to me making a statement about KB’s does it? So Pro’s seem to have the 1st amendment right to lie, manipulate, slander and move forward, while those of us speaking factual with scientific studies, government reports and video’s are blocked from our rights to freedom of speech. For the life of me, I do not understand how the good folks of Wyoming could put such a dishonest, greedy person in office. I do hope once we’ve sent slaughter packing once and for all, that I NEVER hear of this woman again.
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Ms. Slaughterhouse Sue, this one’s for you, and all of those who think your lies are true:
“IDIOT WIND” – Bob Dylan (excerpts from lyrics)
I woke up on the roadside daydreaming about the way things sometimes are
Visions of your chestnut mare shoot through my head and are making me see stars
You hurt the ones that I love best and cover up the truth with lies
One day you’ll be in the ditch, flies buzzing around your eyes
Blood on your saddle.
Idiot wind blowing every time your move your mouth
Blowing down the backroads heading south
Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth
You’re an idiot babe
It’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe.
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Oh, yeah!
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From Animal Angels:
Horse Slaughter Bombshell in Belgium and Holland
http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs022/1101655399670/archive/1107935901491.html
Within hours of the story’s broadcast, supermarkets responded with promises to investigate. Delhaize, the second largest retailer in Belgium asked their supplier to remove affected meat from their shelves. Two other major grocers have told consumers they do not import horse meat from outside Europe.
Fenavian, the Federation of Meat Producers in Belgium, issued a response denying any wrongdoing and offering reassurances that adherence to safety and European Union animal welfare rules were standard practice.
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My grandfather use to say if you give someone enough rope, they WILL hang themselves with it. Seem to be watching that in action! LOL The more they “claim” and put in writing, the more credibility they lose. Grandpa was right, as usual! LOL
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EWA, great job on staying on top of the issues. Your research and hard work is much appreciated! And, as always, many thanks to RT!
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It appears that what Sue and her cronies are really disputing, are the EU and our own FDA regs banning the use of phenylbutazone in food animals. Their opinion that it’s OK and that there is an acceptable withdrawal period, evidently gives them license, in their minds anyway, to determine food safety policy and skirt the law in regards to regulations established by scientists.
Such blatant disregard for the law makes one wonder about the safety considerations given other animals being raised for food in the US. And, makes me wonder if this isn’t partly why we have so many American children (and adults) dying in hospitals from all sorts of cancer these days. Are our traditional food animals (beef, pork, poultry) truly being raised with food safety laws taken seriously? Take a look at the pictures of children in St. Judes, and tell me how anyone with an ounce of compassion and ethics would knowingly feed meat known to contain banned, cancer causing substances to the unwary consumer? Sue has said she would feed horse meat to school children, prisoners, and the poor in her state.
Perhaps the Sue Wallis’s of the meat industry have been feeding banned substances such as PBZ to beef, etc for decades, passing contaminated meat along to consumers, and since they haven’t gotten caught, yet, think they can get away with same with horses. Sue Wallis et al are making the entire US meat supply suspect world wide by supporting the horse slaughter industry. I don’t know how honest and reputable meat suppliers can continue to support her efforts. Then again, perhaps they don’t. Perhaps only those who don’t play by the rules themselves are willing to support such an underhanded, fraudulent and devious scheme.
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Many cattle ranchers have admitted that they do feed banned products to their cattle and other food animals. I read on the United Horsemen’s FB that some there even said that they have eaten bute. One person said I ate it and I didn’t die. Well maybe not yet, but make amends.
The horse haters seem to think that if people aren’t dieing at the dining table that the meats not toxic. But they need to look up carcinogen to see the real deal. I have heard several horse haters say they don’t care about those who eat our horse meat. They just care about the few dollars they get back from horse slaughter. But I think the USDA and FDA had better start to look at this as it will become a problem for the American food industry if it is found to be true that people in Europe are eating our products are getting sick now or in the future. I know that I am very careful not to buy dog food made in China now. How about you?
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We import canned goods from China, fruits and mushrooms… and we do not need these foods coming all that way. The fruit is raised with water full of heavy metals. Check the brands you have been eating for decades and you will find some now have a country of origin not here but China. I cannot understand why the markets sell it at all. If you find Chinese canned goods complain to the store management.
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Excellent observations, Mar. I’ve been reading my labels and COO/COOL and am getting sick and tired of 98% of canned mushrooms, 100% of canned mandarin oranges, etc coming from China. I NEVER buy China anything (well, sometimes but I refuse to buy mandarin oranges just on principle)! Look at paper products these days…it is ridiculous; most of our scrap paper, trees are exported. Paper producers are dropping US based plants for cheap Asian labor and zero regulation. I’m not angry at China; I am angry at the Feds and corporations. Go into $ stores and see what is there. Go to WalMart and see what is there. I understand people are broke, unemployed and trying to stretch every dollar…but it is killing small US based producers and encourages global bailing of US markets.
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It isn’t up to Sue and her lemmings to determine the safety of any substance administered to food animals, and that’s a good thing. Here’s one of many reasons why.
This paper talks about the dangers of chemicals, pesticides, etc. to the human body:
http://www.panna.org/issues/persistent-poisons/pesticides-in-our-bodies
“Even in tiny doses, many chemicals can derail the delicate systems that control our development, health and reproduction. From conception through puberty, children are especially vulnerable.”
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What a lovely day I had yesterday and to wake up to SS on the front page of my FB page spouting off–think I’m gonna be ill.
Hay SS we aren’t going to go away because you said to. Everytime you open your mouth to tell people of the wonders of horsemeat we will be right there to tell people of the dangers.
Please please get your head out of the dark crevice on your backside. We keep telling you and you keep on keeping on with the same old bull. Please go home to cow country WY and leave the rest of us in peace.
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to S Sue Where is your scientific proof that bute is OK to ingest? And all those other drugs that are fed or injected into the equine body? Could you present a paper on your lab findings to the EU and the FDA? Where is your lab? and your test populations ( horse and human!)? Good luck, Sue– no one is buying into your un-truths. We’re having vegetable lasagne tonight.
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It is people like Sue Wallis who give animal agriculture a bad name. She is their most visible advocate. Yet, if it were not for all this air pollution coming out of Wyoming, I wouldn’t be thinking so much about all the facts I learned about the way cattle, sheep, pigs, and poultry are raised by farmers whose faces you never see when i read Temple Grandin’s book Animals Make Us Human. No, the more she rants about eating horse meat, the more I wonder just how deep her ties run. She is so toxic I don’t think even a SuperFund could clean her up.
If the EU tests the muscle/tendon tissue of the horses where bute remains for the life of the horse, and the USDA tests the fat tissue of the horse where bute may not even be present when administered, is this because the USDA is less scientifically competent than the food safety scientists in Europe or is the USDA intentionally using a process that will not detect the presence of a toxic substance in order to support the goals of political special interests who stand to gain from the slaughter of horse meat? And if the USDA via FSIS is willing to admit tainted horse meat to enter the International market to be eaten by unsuspecting individuals who trust us as a food source, would they also cover up the presence of toxic chemicals in beef, chicken, pork, that the people in our country also depend on?
.
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It really does make you wonder. The cattle industry in the US is depending heavily on the international market going forward. I think they need to do some damage control – and fast- or they will lose the market share they already have, much less acquire more.
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YEP!!!!!!!
It was cattle producers in 1940’s Texas that got the passed in Austin to cut off competition via equine HCHS. WTH happened????? AQHA!!!!! and foreign controlled lobbyists.
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OOoops! It should read “…..got the “law” passed in…”.
‘cuse me.
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You know, S Sue shoots herself in the foot so much, it’s a wonder she’s not in a wheelchair.
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Yep it is that plain and simple. The horses in the USA are not meant to end up used for human consumption. They are not raised as food animals nor should they end up food animals. But it does make you wonder what else with our food they ARE trying to cover up?
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Now, when I write to Congress this is what I bring up. This irrational stuff by Sue Wallis and the others are undermining the credibility of our entire meat industry. I tell them that if we don’t stop exporting contaminated horse meat ourselves, the EU will do it for us. Further undermining the credibility of our Food Safety regulations.
Why DO these idiots believe they can continue this way?
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I really don’t know why they think this can just keep going on like this.
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