Environmental Exposure to Cadmium Linked to Lung Cancer

By Cecilia Green

Published on January 16, 2006

Cadmium is a metal, which has been known to cause cancer among individuals who work closely with it over long periods of time. However, new research proves that cadmium also causes cancer in those who have been exposed to the element through industrial emissions.

Researchers monitored about 1,000 people that had lived in the same area of northeast Belgium since 1985. Fifty percent of the participants lived close to zinc refineries where cadmium emissions were high, while the other 50 percent lived in low exposure areas. Nineteen of the individuals participating in the study died of lung cancer in 2004. Fifteen of them lived in high exposure areas.

Trace amounts of cadmium were found in the soil where these residents had their gardens. Cadmium was also found in urine samples of the participants. Results of the study showed that the levels of cadmium increased over time as it accumulated in the body, specifically in the kidneys.

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