Update of cancer and non-cancer mortality in the Missouri poultry cohort.

Background: workers in poultry slaughtering and processing plants have one of the highest human exposures to transmissible agents that cause cancer and other diseases in chickens and turkeys, and also have other occupational carcinogenic exposures. The general population is also exposed to these transmissible agents.

Methods: we investigated mortality in workers who belong to a poultry union in Missouri, and estimated standardized mortality ratios.