Mortality from non-malignant diseases among women in the meat industry.

A mortality follow up study was conducted among 7261 white female members in a local meatcutter's union in Baltimore, Maryland, between July 1949 and December 1980. The group was divided into four main job categories within the meat industry and a control group of non-meat workers belonging to the same union. Mortality in each of these subgroups was compared with that of white women in the United States general population through the determination of cause specific standardised mortality ratios. No increased risk of death from non-malignant causes was observed in any job category within the meat industry. Some caution should, however, be exercised in interpretating this finding, as few workers in chicken slaughtering plants died.