Cancer mortality among white males in the meat industry

A study was conducted among 13,844 members of a meatcutter’s union, from July 1949 to December 1980, to examine cancer occurrence in the meat industry. Separate analyses were carried out for the whole group, and for subgroups defined by job-categories characteristic of the industry, including a control group. Mortality was compared with that of the United States through the estimation of standardized mortality ratios (SMB) and proportional mortality ratios. A statistically significant proportional mortality ratio of 8.9 was obtained for Hodgkin’s disease among abattoir workers; the SMB of 2.2 was not significant. Among meat-packing plant workers, highly statistically significant SMBs were recorded for bone cancer, SMB = 9.6; cancer of the buccal cavity and pharynx, SMB = 3.4; and lung cancer, SMB = 1.9. The role of oncogenic viruses and other carcinogenic exposures was investigated.