Cadmium in Our Food: Frequently Asked Questions

In 2010, the World Health Organization called cadmium a “major public health concern.” You may have heard about harmful exposures to the heavy metal via cigarettes, jewelry, or nickel-cadmium batteries. But a more common route of exposure effects more people on a regular basis. This route: our food supply.

Of late, PPRC has dug into the problem of cadmium exposure via food, specifically focusing on the primary source of exposure, which is the phosphate-based fertilizer used to grow our crops. We have just published a series of Frequently Asked Question reports (below) that focus on common questions about cadmium in fertilizer, the state of our legal protections, and possible prevention tactics.

How does cadmium get into our food chain? Which foods contain the highest concentrations? Do any laws currently protect our health? And how can we prevent harmful exposures? Find answers to these questions and many more in the following reports:

• FAQs About Cadmium in Fertilizer: Cadmium Contamination in Plants – This report gives detailed information about the pathway cadmium takes from fertilizers to our food supply. What foods contain cadmium and why? What is the risk to our food supply in the Northwest?
• FAQs About Cadmium in Fertilizer: Fertilizer Laws and Limits – This report provides details about the international and Northwest laws governing the levels of cadmium in our fertilizers and our foods. How protective are the laws in the Northwest? And how can they be improved?
  
• FAQs About Cadmium in Fertilizer: Reducing Cadmium Exposure in Your Garden – This report is for those who like to grow their own vegetables. Does growing your own vegetables protect you from cadmium exposure? What preventative measures can you take?
  

If you are a concerned citizen but don’t have time to read the above reports, we’ve published a simple, one-page summary of our findings: Cadmium in Food: Should You be Concerned?

-Cyrus Philbrick, Communications Manager