Health and Environment

Updated May 2021

Cadmium: Health and Environmental Impacts

Please note: Toxicity data is constantly evolving and as such the data presented here are valid as of May, 2021. Updated TURA data is available at www.turadata.org.

Human health and environmental impacts may result when exposure to cadmium and cadmium compounds occurs. The following is a summary of potential exposure routes and the associated human health and environmental impacts.

Exposure Routes

For the general population, the major route of exposure to cadmium is ingestion of food. Smoking is another major source of cadmium intake. Ingestion of drinking water and inhalation of cadmium aerosols from the atmosphere are also potential sources of cadmium exposure.¹ The primary route of occupational exposure is inhalation of dust and fumes. Accidental ingestion of dust from contaminated hands, cigarettes, or food can also occur. Occupational exposure occurs primarily in smelting and refining zinc, lead, and copper ores; welding or remelting of cadmium-coated steel; working with solders that contain cadmium; producing, processing, and handling cadmium powders; spraying cadmium containing pigments; and processing scrap metal containing cadmium.²

Human Health Effects

Acute (Short-term) Health Effects

CADMIUM FACTS

• Cadmium is irritating to the nose and throat.
• Inhalation of very high levels of Cd can severely damage the lungs and may cause death.¹
• Ingestion of very high levels of Cd severely irritates the stomach, leading to vomiting, diarrhea, and sometimes death.⁵

Chronic (Long-Term) Health Effects

• Cadmium is carcinogenic to humans. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies cadmium and cadmium compounds as Group 1 carcinogens (carcinogenic to humans), causing lung cancer and with positive associations for kidney and pancreatic cancer.^3,6,7 The U.S. EPA classifies cadmium as a Group B1 (probable human) carcinogen by inhalation.⁸ NIOSH considers cadmium (and cadmium compounds) dust and fumes to be potential occupational carcinogens.^5,9
• Recent studies link exposure to Cd to bladder cancer and chronic obstructive airway disease (COPD).¹⁰
• Breathing airborne particles containing Cd over long periods of time may cause lung damage and fragile bones.¹¹
• Kidney damage can occur from accidental ingestion or inhalation from cadmium dust.¹²
• Cadmium is a potential reproductive and developmental toxicant. California has designated cadmium causing male reproductive toxicity under its Proposition 65 regulation.¹³
• Animal studies indicate that eating or drinking cadmium may cause high blood pressure, iron-poor blood, liver disease, osteoporosis, nerve, or brain damage.¹

Environmental Hazards

Cadmium enters the environment primarily through human activities such as mining and smelting operations, fuel combustion, disposal of metal-containing products, and application of phosphate fertilizer or sewage sludges. Cadmium that is in or attached to small particles can enter the air, especially during incineration. The main species of cadmium found in the atmosphere is cadmium oxide, though some cadmium salts, such as cadmium chloride, also exist. In water, cadmium can exist as the hydrated ion, or as ionic complexes with other inorganic or organic substances.¹⁴

Cadmium in its ionic form is toxic to a variety of plants, animals, and human cells. When cadmium is exposed to soil and aquatic life, plants and animals can absorb the chemical, causing growth development issues.¹ A tragic mass cadmium poisoning case in Toyama Prefecture, Japan in 1950 showed cadmium’s toxicity. The cadmium had leached from wastes at a nearby lead-zinc mine and contaminated the village water supply and caused itai-itai disease in people exposed to the contamination.^15,16 Symptoms of this disease include kidney dysfunctions and softening of the bones.^17,18,19