By Bonnie Erbe, Thomas Jefferson Street blog
No Matter how you Cut It, Horse Slaughter Kills both Horses AND Humans
If you can’t persuade them for the right reasons, then scare them with the facts.
A new paper in the journal Food & Chemical Toxicology shows how dangerous American horse meat is for human consumption.
Americans should stop selling horses for slaughter abroad because we love our horses and do not treat them as livestock. That’s the right reason to stop this incredibly cruel practice. Still, millions of greedy horse owners and breeders send horses off to slaughter because it’s more remunerative than not breeding at all or even having them euthanized.
But according to this new paper, humans who consume horse meat (most often overseas and especially in France, Italy, Japan and Belgium) are at risk for being poisoned by Phenylbutazone or “bute.” It’s a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug originally developed for treating severe cases of arthritis, but it was later found to…
“cause serious and lethal idiosyncratic adverse effects in humans. Sixty-seven million pounds of horsemeat derived from American horses were sent abroad for human consumption last year. Horses are not raised as food animals in the United States and, mechanisms to ensure the removal of horses treated with banned substances from the food chain are inadequate at best.”
Bute is still routinely used not just at the thoroughbred racetrack, which is what the authors of this paper studied, but also by horse owners nationwide to mitigate pain for all sorts of horse injuries. Horses do not have the same lethal reaction to bute that humans can display, although long-term use of bute for horses can create ulcers and other organ damage.
The paper’s authors call it a “significant health hazard” for people to consume horse meat. I hope this information is highly promulgated throughout horse-consuming societies in Europe and Asia.
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Categories: Horse News, Horse Slaughter
Straight from the Horse's Heart 
I don’t know about Italy or Belgium but I know that in France horse meat is avoided by the majority of people. It is also very cheap. I lived there for many years and have never seen it on a regular restaurant menu and never met anyone who had tried it. I heard that many years ago horse meat had been illegally served disguised as regular beef by a major fast food chain in the US, and I am not convinced that all the meat ends up overseas.
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yes!!! and someone needs to tell SUE WALLIS and her group that is NOW at this time- setting up A 501c non-profit horse slaughter business. If we don’t stop them now before they get the laws changed, it will be very hard to stop them.
They KNOW horse-meat is toxic for many years..simply do NOT care they kill ignorant horse-meat eaters.
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Belgium, Italy, France all have craigs list now and anyone can post there all this info about how toxic this horse meat is.
There were a LOT of craigs list Belgium posts last year about toxic meat mixed into the local meat supply. as the law allowed horsemeat to come in their country frozen. Like to think all the craigs list warnings had something to do with europian general public0horse-eaters noticing how they have been eating poison for many years.
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Need more examples of why we need to stop horse slaughter!
Here ya go!
MYTH: Only sick and old horses are sent to slaughter.
FACT: A U.S. Dept of Agriculture study revealed that more than 92% of horses going to slaughter are healthy this includes foals and yearlings. Approx 45% of these are quarter horses and 25% of these horse are HEALTHY 3 to 6 year old race horses that the owners are done racing them and throw them away like trash!
MYTH: If horse slaughter is ended, there will be a flood of abandoned horses.
FACT: Slaughter actually promotes illegal neglect and abandonment.
MYTH: Horse slaughter is illegal in the United States.
FACT: Horse slaughter is illegal only in Texas, Illinois and California, only these states have state laws banning horse slaughtering but a Federal Law prohibits horse slaughtering in America but the law does not forbid these horses from being shipped across International borders for slaughtering.
MYTH: Horse slaughter is like being “put down”.
FACT: Horse slaughter is NOT humane euthanasia it is TORTURE and INHUMANE, they are shot and stabbed repeatably until dead and are in GREAT PAIN!!!
MYTH: Horse meat is safe to eat.
FACT: All domestic horse meat is tainted with Phenybutazone or “bute”, the aspirin of the horse world and other medications include Clenbuterol, Ivermectin, fluphanazine, fluoxetine, methylprednisone, dipyrone, gentamycin sulfate, ketoprofen, Regumate and Lasix — all clearly labeled, “Not for use in animals intended for food.” *According to the FDA, there is no tolerance for bute in food-producing animals, and they and their by-products are condemned when it is detected. Dairy producers must not use this drug in food-producing cattle and if it is found, those producers will be subject to FDA investigation and possible prosecution. (http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/03-4741.htm). Since horses are not considered food animals in the US, bute is widely administered to horses by veterinarians and horse owners.
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