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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).
All soils and rocks, including coal and mineral fertilizers, contain some cadmium. Most cadmium used in the United States is extracted during the production of other metals like zinc, lead, and copper. Cadmium does not corrode easily and has many uses, including batteries, pigments, metal coatings, and plastics.
> Cadmium enters air from mining, industry, and burning coal and household wastes.
> Cadmium particles in air can travel long distances before falling to the ground or water.
> It enters water and soil from waste disposal and spills or leaks at hazardous waste sites.
> It binds strongly to soil particles.
> Some cadmium dissolves in water.
> It doesn’t break down in the environment, but can change forms.
> Fish, plants, and animals take up cadmium from the environment.
> Cadmium stays in the body a very long time and can build up from many years of exposure to low levels.
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 buildup of cadmium in the kidneys and possible kidney disease. Other long-term effects are lung damage and fragile bones.
Animals given cadmium in food or water had 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.
cadmium and cadmium compounds may reasonably be anticipated to be carcinogens.
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