Meat Plants in Brazil Could be Causing Maternal Disorders

Meat plants in Brazil appear to be causing maternal disorders, with thousands of women at risk as meat exports hit record highs. Maternal disorders seem to be higher than in any other employment sector, and 220,000 women work in the meat sector in the county.

The risk of maternal disorders for pig and poultry sectors where most women work was at least double compared to all other employment sectors in Brazil between 2000 and 2016, The Guardian reported.

According to Brazil’s National Institute of Social Security (INSS), between 2016 and 2019, more than 2,600 pregnant women in meat plants reported suffering maternal disorders such as infections, bleeding, and excessive vomiting.

Some of the dangers of the industry that could be causing this are ammonia leaks, bad postures at work stations, exposure to low temperatures, and viruses or bacteria present in animal meat, Dr. Roberto Ruiz told The Guardian.

A woman working for the world’s biggest meat company, JBS, in southern Brazil told The Guardian that she was five months pregnant, cutting poultry on a conveyor belt when she began to feel ill.

Source: ABC News In-depth/Youtube

“I went to the locker room and took some painkillers. That’s when I started to have some strange loss of fluid,” she said. She went to a hospital where she was diagnosed with an infection and had to go on leave from her job.

The woman is in her third pregnancy and was losing weight because she could not eat at work. Because of hygiene reasons, she was not allowed to eat anywhere on the meatpacking plant’s premises, not even in the locker room, she told The Guardian.

“If you count it, you have a 10-minute break – you won’t be able to take off all the clothes you have to wear and go outside to eat, and then come back. It’s impossible,” she said.

Meat companies often argue against their practices being classified unhealthy as “they want to avoid extra costs [such as hazard pay],” labor prosecutor Lincoln Cordeiro, told The Guardian.

Cordeiro is a leader of a group of prosecutors specializing in meatpacking plants. He is working for a reduction in the work week, which is currently 44 hours, especially for pregnant employees.

“Shorter work days would drastically reduce exposure to any risk inherent in work, thus providing more safety to employees and unborn children, but also to employers,” he says.

The Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA), which represents the poultry and pig industries, denies the correlation between maternal disorders and the environment in slaughterhouses.

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