| SUMMARY: Exposure to cadmium happens mostly in the workplace where cadmium products are made. The general population is exposed from breathing cigarette smoke or eating cadmium contaminated foods. Cadmium damages the lungs, can cause kidney disease, and may irritate the digestive tract. Cadmium has been found in at least 388 of 1,300 National Priorities List sites identified by the Environmental Protection Agency. |
What is cadmium?
Pronounced (cad' me-um)
Cadmium is a natural element in the earth's crust. It is usually found as a mineral combined with other elements such as oxygen (cadmium oxide), chlorine (cadmium chloride), or sulfur (cadmium sulfate, cadmium sulfide). It doesn't have a definite taste or odor.
All soils and rocks, including coal and mineral fertilizers, have some cadmium in them. The cadmium that industry uses is extracted during the production of other metals like zinc, lead, and copper.
Cadmium does not corrode easily and has many uses. In industry and consumer products, it is used for batteries, pigments, metal coatings, and plastics.
What happens to cadmium when it enters the environment?
How might I be exposed to cadmium?
Breathing high levels of cadmium severely damages the lungs and can cause death. Eating food or drinking water with very high levels severely irritates the stomach, leading to vomiting and diarrhea.
Long term exposure to lower levels of cadmium in air, food, or water leads to a build up of cadmium in the kidneys and possible kidney disease. Other potential long term effects are lung damage and fragile bones.
Animals given cadmium in food or water show high blood pressure, iron-poor blood, liver disease, and nerve or brain damage. We don't know if humans get any of these diseases from eating or drinking cadmium.
Skin contact with cadmium is not known to cause health effects in humans or animals.
How likely is cadmium to cause cancer?
The Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) has determined that cadmium and cadmium compounds may reasonably be anticipated to be carcinogens.
This is based on weak evidence of increased lung cancer in humans from breathing cadmium and on strong evidence from animal studies. We do not know if cadmium causes cancer from skin contact or from eating or drinking contaminated food and water.
Is there a medical test to show whether I've been exposed to cadmium?
Tests are available in some medical laboratories that measure cadmium in blood, urine, hair, or nails.
Blood levels show recent exposure to cadmium, and urine levels show both recent and earlier exposure. Urine tests can indicate kidney damage. The reliability of tests for cadmium levels in hair or nails is unknown.
Tests are available to measure cadmium in your liver and kidney. The tests are expensive, but can help a doctor evaluate your risk of kidney disease.
Has the federal government made recommendations to protect human health?
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allows 5 parts of cadmium per billion parts of drinking water (5 ppb). The EPA also limits how much cadmium can enter lakes, rivers, waste sites, and cropland. The EPA does not allow cadmium in pesticides.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) limits the amount of cadmium in food colors to 15 parts of cadmium per million parts of food color (15 ppm).
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) now limits workplace air to 100 micrograms (µg) cadmium per cubic meter as cadmium fumes and 200 µg cadmium/cubic meter as cadmium dust. OSHA is planning to limit all cadmium compounds to either 1 or 5 µg/cubic meter.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) currently recommends that workers breathe as little cadmium as possible.
Glossary
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). 1993. Toxicological profile for cadmium. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). 1993. Case studies in environmental medicine: Cadmium toxicity. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.
Where can I get more information?
ATSDR can tell you where to find occupational and environmental health clinics. Their specialists can recognize, evaluate, and treat illnesses resulting from exposure to hazardous substances. You can also contact your community or state health or environmental quality department if you have any more questions or concerns. For more information, contact: