French doctors warn of health risks from heavy metal in everyday foods
French doctors are raising the alarm about the health effects of a toxic heavy metal found in everyday food staples such as bread, cereal, and potatoes.
Cadmium, which causes cancer in humans, is naturally found in soil and used in phosphate fertilisers, meaning it is introduced to the food chain through crops. Food is most people's top source of exposure, though cigarettes also contain cadmium.
Now, the French association of medical professionals (URPS) says there is an 'explosion of contamination of young children' because of their diets, with likely health consequences as they grow up.
'The metal is considered one of the most toxic in existence,' according to the doctors' letter to the French government, which is dated June 2.
Cadmium has been linked to pancreatic, lung, prostate, and kidney cancers, as well as heart diseases, fertility problems, kidney damage, neurological issues, and bone disorders.
According to France's food and environmental safety agency (ANSES), 0.6 per cent of adults' diets are too high in cadmium. But that share rises to 14 per cent for children aged three to 17, and up to 36 per cent for toddlers under the age of three.
Between 2000 and 2022, Italy reported the most alerts for cadmium contamination in the European Union, followed by Spain, Germany, France, and Poland, according to a 2023 study.
The EU has banned phosphate fertilisers with more than 60 mg/kg of cadmium, and several countries have set stricter limits.
But France, which is the EU's leading consumer of phosphate fertiliser, has not moved to bring cadmium limits down any further – despite researchers saying the EU's 60 mg/kg cap is not enough.
The doctors' group called on the French government to launch awareness campaigns, try to change children's school menus, promote organic foods due to their lower levels of cadmium, and track exposure levels among at-risk patients.
For example, the letter said that in the United States, cadmium contamination has fallen since the 1960s due to 'better management of sewage sludge in agricultural soils'.
The doctors said it's critical to take steps now to lower cadmium exposure, because it could be years or even decades before the effects on people are fully realised.
The metal 'persists and accumulates in the body over the years,' the letter read.
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