Mortality in workers employed in pig abattoirs and processing plants

Johnson, Eric S.; Ndetan, Harrison; Felini, Martha; Faramawi, Mohammed F.; Singh, Karan P.; Choi, Kyung Mee; Qualls-Hampton, Raquel

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2011.06.003

Cited by 8 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…Although this activity does not involve exposure to poultry, it does involve possible exposure to the oncogenic viruses of cattle, pigs, sheep and goats such as the bovine leukemia virus, Jaagsiekte sheep retrovirus, and papilloma viruses of these animals. It also is consistent with the observed increased risk of leukemia and lymphoma associated with occupational exposure to beef cattle and working in the meat industry [28,[37][38][39][40].…”

Section: Exposures Outside the Poultry Industrysupporting

confidence: 88%

“…Selling seafood, killing pigs, and exposure to coal tar, turpentine, naphthalene, natural gas, paraffin, and smoke were all significantly associated with H & L tumors. The association between H & L tumors and coal tar and carbon products is established [32], and that with killing pigs is consistent with other reports [40]. However, the finding for selling seafood, especially in relation to multiple myeloma, is novel and unexpected, and would need to be confirmed in other studies.…”

Section: Exposures Outside the Poultry Industrysupporting

confidence: 83%

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Human Exposure to Poultry and Poultry Products and the Risk of Death from Hematopoietic & Lymphatic Cancers

Bangara

Preacely

Felini

et al. 2017

BJMMR

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Purpose:The purpose of this study was to obtain preliminary information on occupational exposures responsible for the excess of hematopoietic & lymphatic (H&L) cancers previously observed in cohort mortality studies of workers in poultry slaughtering and processing plants. Methods:A pilot case-cohort study was conducted nested within a combined cohort of 30,411 Bangara et al.; BJMMR, 22(1): 1-10, 2017; Article no.BJMMR.34034 2 poultry workers and 16,408 controls, identified from several United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) unions across the United States. Interviewed cases were 48 deaths out of a total of 130 deaths (37%) from H & L tumors that occurred in the cohort between 1990-2003. Controls were N=152 subjects that were successfully interviewed out of 1516 subjects (10%) randomly selected from all cohort members alive as of January 1, 1990. Telephone interviews were obtained directly from live control subjects or next-of-kin for deceased cases and controls. Mortality risk was assessed using logistic regression odds ratios and hazard ratios. Results: Poultry farming [OR=10.8 (95% CI: 3.0-39.1)] and spreading chicken wastes as manure [OR=5.6 (95% CI: 1.5-20.4)] were significantly associated with lymphoma; handling raw eggs in supermarkets [OR=4.3 (95% CI: 1.0-18.0)] was significantly associated with leukemia. Non-poultry exposures significantly associated with these tumors included coal by-products, selling seafood, and killing of pigs. Conclusion: This preliminary study identifies possible occupational exposures that may be associated with excess deaths from H & L tumors in poultry workers. Case-control studies of sufficient statistical power are now needed to confirm these findings and discover new ones. Short Communication

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Section: Exposures Outside the Poultry Industrysupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Exposures Outside the Poultry Industrysupporting

confidence: 83%

Human Exposure to Poultry and Poultry Products and the Risk of Death from Hematopoietic & Lymphatic Cancers

Bangara

Preacely

Felini

et al. 2017

BJMMR

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“…Carcinogenic exposures during the smoking and curing of meat include polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) present in smoke (International Agency for Research on Cancer, 1973, 1987), nitrosamines present in spices used for curing or formed during curing (Sen et al., 1973; Jakszyn et al., 2004) and possibly butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated hydroxytoluene used as preservatives (Ito et al., 1983; Williams et al., 1983). The higher risk observed in pig handlers than in other meat workers (Guberan et al., 1993; Johnson et al., 1995a, 2011a; Johnson, 2011) can be partly attributed to their being additionally exposed to higher levels of carcinogens during curing and smoking of meat than workers handling cattle and sheep. This is supported by the findings of excess lung cancer risk in workers in plants or butchers handling pigs and pig products (Griffith, 1982; Coggon et al., 1989; Guberan et al., 1993), and the relative risk of 1.4 for curing reported by Gustavsson et al.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Johnson et al. (1986a,b, 1995a, 2011a), Johnson (1989, 1994, 2011) reported on a cohort of 28 900 members in a meatcutters’ union in Baltimore, Maryland.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Excess lung cancer risk was observed in all sectors of the industry (abattoirs/slaughtering plants, wholesale processing plants where no killing is carried out, combination of slaughtering and processing plants, and meat and deli departments of supermarkets). Plants where pigs were processed exclusively had the highest risks (Johnson et al., 1995a, 2011a; Johnson, 2011), and lower but definite increased risks were also observed in processing plants that handled beef predominantly, and in abattoirs handling cattle, pigs and sheep (Johnson et al., 1995a; Johnson, 2011).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Lung Cancer Risk in Workers in the Meat and Poultry Industries – A Review

Johnson

Choi

2012

Zoonoses and Public Health

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Laboratory and in vivo studies in primates, and serological evidence in humans, indicate that food animal oncogenic viruses show potential for causing cancer in humans. However, until fairly recently, supporting analytic epidemiologic studies have been lacking and have concentrated on lung cancer. We conducted an extensive Medline search and reviewed 60 studies investigating lung cancer risk in highly exposed workers in the meat and poultry industries. The overwhelming majority of studies of different designs (including all the cohort mortality and cancer incidence studies) indicate at least a 30% excess risk of lung cancer in meat and poultry plant workers, even after controlling for smoking. Evidence points to food animal oncogenic microorganisms as one of the main causes. This has important public health implications because the general population is also widely exposed. Studies carried out thus far have not had sufficient statistical power to investigate other potentially carcinogenic exposures within the industries. Thus, large studies that can adequately control for occupational and non-occupational confounding factors are needed, so that the possible role of food animal oncogenic viruses in the occurrence of human lung cancer can be clearly defined.

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Association between butchers and cancer mortality and incidence

Guo¹,

Wang²,

et al. 2017

Medicine

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Background:In this study, we evaluated whether increased risks of mortality and cancer incidence exist among butchers worldwide. To achieve this goal, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to investigate the correlations of the risks of cancer death and incidence with male and female butchers.Methods:We obtained data by performing a comprehensive literature search in several databases for eligible studies published before March 2017. Multivariable-adjusted standardized mortality ratios (SMRs) and odds ratio (OR), as well as associated 95% confidence intervals (CIs) and those by subgroups, were extracted and pooled.Results:A total of 17 observational studies comprising 397,726 participants were included in the meta-analysis. The butcher occupation was not associated with all-cancer mortality risk, with pooled overall SMRs of 1.07 (95% CI 0.96–1.20). However, the pooled ORs revealed that butchers hold an elevated risk of total cancer incidence (OR, 1.51; 95% CI, 1.33–1.73). No proof of publication bias was obtained, and the findings were consistent in the subgroup analyses.Conclusion:Our results suggest that working as butchers did not significantly influence all-cancer mortality risk but significantly contributed to elevated all-cancer incidence risk. Nevertheless, well-designed observational studies on this topic are necessary to confirm and update our findings.

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Mortality in workers employed in pig abattoirs and processing plants

Cited by 8 publications

References 26 publications

Human Exposure to Poultry and Poultry Products and the Risk of Death from Hematopoietic & Lymphatic Cancers

Human Exposure to Poultry and Poultry Products and the Risk of Death from Hematopoietic & Lymphatic Cancers

Lung Cancer Risk in Workers in the Meat and Poultry Industries – A Review

Association between butchers and cancer mortality and incidence

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