THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 3, 1994 TAG: 9412030285
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARIE JOYCE, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
The television screen shows a packet of pills labeled ``Premarin,'' then a woman in her kitchen swallowing a pill. Emblazoned on her T-shirt is a picture of a horse and several other animals and the labels ``SPCA'' and ``Norfolk, Va.''
This scene, produced by station WVEC-13 and Sentara Health Systems, and part of a public service announcement on menopause, worries the Norfolk Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Problem is, Premarin is on the most-wanted list of animal-rights organizations. The drug, an estrogen replacement used to offset the effects of menopause, is produced from the urine of pregnant horses, which activists contend are mistreated.
The executive director of the Norfolk SPCA has written WVEC and Sentara asking them to broadcast a disclaimer.
``We requested that they let viewers know we in no way condoned to use of this drug, because of the controversy over its manufacture,'' Karen Pinneo said.
The public service announcement was a recent installment of the Family Health Project, an award-winning series that the station and Sentara have produced for several years.
Menopause is one of the topics the series targeted this fall.
``It's designed to bring accurate health information to people,'' said Deborah Myers, Sentara's director of public affairs. ``The menopause one has been particularly well-received.''
Myers and Sherri Brennen, director of community affairs for WVEC, said no one involved with the project was trying to imply that the SPCA endorsed the use of Premarin.
The woman featured in the spot was not named. She is an SPCA volunteer who did not know about the Premarin controversy and had decided on her own to wear that T-shirt on the day of filming, Pinneo said.
``She thought she was doing us a favor by wearing the Norfolk T-shirt,'' Pinneo said.
The spot was filmed in the woman's kitchen, Brennen said. The health series features actual patients, not actors, and the Premarin packet probably was displayed because it happened to be the medication used by the women in the spot, she said.
Pinneo said she first learned of the broadcast when she got a call from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA, a national animal-rights group, had been sent a videotape from a Norfolk-area supporter.
PETA says the pregnant mares used to produce Premarin are forced to spend most of their pregnancies confined in tiny stalls, hooked to a device to collect their urine, and that their foals often are destroyed. Industry spokesmen and farmers have denied the charges and say they follow a strict code of ethics.
Myers said she hadn't seen Pinneo's letter asking for a clarification, and Brennen said she didn't know what, if anything, the station planned to do.
``Really, it is just the most ridiculous thing,'' Myers said. PETA, she said, ``is a group trying to create something out of nothing.'' ILLUSTRATION: During a public service announcement, a woman takes medication
while wearing a T-shirt for the Norfolk Society for the Prevention
of Cruelty to Animals.
by CNB