Government finally wants to ban the trade of horse blood

State Secretary Martijn van Dam will seek to achieve a European ban on the import of blood of pregnant horses. He promised to do so after questions were raised by MP Esther Ouwehand (Party for the Animals)

At so-called blood farms in Argentina and Uruguay, mares are continuously made pregnant to produce the PMSG hormone. Large amounts of blood are then tapped from the pregnant mares. These horses become extremely thin and weak as a result. The foils are aborted prematurely or are cut out.

The fertility hormone that is produced this way is intended for the European bio-industry. Especially the Dutch and German livestock industry use this hormone to increase their production.

Esther Ouwehand: “The horses at these blood farms are literally drained of blood and are systematically abused. It’s like a bad horror film. Both the production and the import of PMSG must therefore be banned to stop this inhumane abuse of horses.”

The Party for the Animals’ proposal to ban PMSG in Europe was already accepted with a majority of votes in the European Parliament last year. However, the ban can only come into force if a majority of the EU countries and the European Commission agree with the ban. State Secretary Van Dam promised in his reply to MP Esther Ouwehand’s question that he will make every effort in Brussels to enforce the ban.

The Party for the Animals was not alone in its request. In just one week’s time, more than 1.5 million European citizens signed the petition of the online campaign network Avaaz.