Cadmium Toxicity Case Study: Food Chain Contamination and Health Risks

This assignment presents a comprehensive case study on cadmium contamination within the food chain, focusing on a 60-year-old woman experiencing low back pain and difficulty walking. The study explores the patient's exposure pathways, including her husband's jewelry shop where she worked with cadmium-containing alloys, her smoking habits, and her consumption of vegetables grown in a garden fertilized with potentially contaminated waste water. The assignment delves into the potential sources of cadmium exposure, the increased risk factors for cadmium toxicity, and the impact of dietary choices. It examines the crucial role of diet in determining health outcomes, highlighting the significance of leafy greens in the patient's diet and the contamination from the municipal well water. The assignment also addresses the methods for measuring cadmium concentration using urine, blood, hair, and nail samples and the importance of assessing the patient's symptoms, including potential renal failure, liver damage, and fatigue. Furthermore, it emphasizes the value of urinary cadmium as a biomarker for long-term exposure, the factors influencing its concentration, and the need to address the patient's health concerns through appropriate medical procedures and medications. The assignment concludes with a discussion of the global implications of cadmium contamination, the importance of raising awareness, and the implementation of stricter regulations to reduce cadmium exposure.

Running Head: Cadmium Contamination in Food Chain
Cadmium Contamination in Food Chain
Author name
University name
Author note

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Cadmium Contamination in Food Chain
Introduction
Cadmium is a naturally occurring, soft, metal, which can be found abundant in the
Earth’s crust. However, due to human activities like mining and smelting, in recent times,
cadmium contamination has posed a great threat to human health, and is considered to be a major
global food safety concern. This essay, will thus, provide the detrimental effects cadmium has on
the overall food chain and how it is hampering the food security and safety of the global
population.
Discussion
What is cadmium contamination?
Cadmium is considered to be an environmental pollutant, because of its noncorrosive
nature, which prevents it from disintegrating (Mead, 2010). Recent years have seen an increase
in cadmium concentration in soil, air and water, due to human activities like mining, burning of
fossil fuels and coal, refining and even from household wastes, which was absorbed or taken in
by several types of crops and aquatic animals and other items of consumption, leading to the
bioaccumulation and bio magnification of the metal in humans and other animals (Tóth et al.,
2016). Thus, this phenomenon of cadmium poisoning or toxicity has been observed to cause
several illnesses ranging from food poisoning to fatal diseases like renal failure (Yang and Shu,
2015).

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Cadmium Contamination in Food Chain
How does it occur in food chain?
Statistics show that majority of the cadmium was released from human activities like mining,
smelting, metal coating plants, plastic product manufacturing factories, and more. This heavy
metal, upon release into the environment, tends to modify and transform into various toxic
compounds, which leads to the pollution of soil, air and eventually ground water resources. Thus,
this facilitates the entrance of this carcinogen into the food chain, via the means of food items
like potatoes, cereal grains, pulses, leafy greens, and even tobacco, grown on contaminated soil
and also through aquatic animals, which are gravely subjected to cadmium bioaccumulation
(Chunhabundit, 2016). This in turn leads to bio magnification and later causes cadmium toxicity
in animals and facilitates kidney and bone damage in humans.
How does it affect food safety?
The intake of the excessive cadmium levels present in the environment, mainly the soil
and the ground water, the active intake of the metal by crops and aquatic animals, render the
food items consumed by the humans unsafe and harmful (Macedo et al.,2017). Dietary cadmium
intake has also been associated with decreased tubular reabsorption, hypertension, chronic
kidney disease, and coronary and peripheral arterial diseases, diabetes, and cancer (Satarug,
Vesey and Gobe, 2017). Only about 5% of the ingested cadmium present in the gut gets absorbed
into the blood or lymphatic fluid. This then gets distributed throughout the body by blood to get
stored by the kidney and liver, as a metallothionein complex, which causes grave negative
impacts on the renal health of an individual, by causing nephrotoxicity (Khaje et al., 2015). The
cellular mechanisms that cadmium can hinder include glucose metabolism and can target

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Cadmium Contamination in Food Chain
different organs like pancreases, adrenal gland and liver. It can affect the pancreatic cells by
limiting the secretion of insulin.
How does it affect food security?
In recent times, cadmium contamination has posed a great threat to human health, and is
considered to be a major global food security concern (Wang et al., 2019). Cadmium’s biological
half-life in the body is estimated to be 30 years, which is due to the body’s inability to effectively
eliminate the metal that can result in genetic mutations which get transferred to the future
generations causing a variety of genetic disorders (Rapisarda, 2018). In the year 2009, the
Contaminants in the Food Chain of European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) panel suggested
that the provisional tolerable weekly intake of cadmium should be lowered to a weekly intake
(TWI) of 2.5 μg/kg bw. To prevent health risk of cadmium contamination the monthly intake
needs to be below 25 μg/kg bw
Natural contamination in some types of foods
Cadmium being a naturally occurring metal, which can easily contaminate ground water,
is vastly prevalent in different vegetables and fruits, and even in different fishes, which are
consumed by humans (Oskarsson et al., 2004). The percentage of cadmium content on food
groups like various roots and tubers, pulses, fruits, and cereals, ranging from 6% - 31%
respectively. Due to the phenomenon off bioaccumulation, it has been seen to have accumulated
in aquatic organisms like crustaceans (shrimps, crabs, lobsters), molluscs (oysters, octopuses,
snails), and other fishes (Wang and Rainbow, 2008). Leafy greens like broccoli, spinach and
lettuce along with leaves of addictive substances like tobacco are also subjected to an increase in
the accumulation and magnification of cadmium content in them. Even though these occur

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Cadmium Contamination in Food Chain
naturally in all types of agricultural soils, this is mainly due to the excessive use of phosphate
containing fertilizers, which contain high amounts of cadmium, increase the incidence of uptake
of cadmium by the crops (Ismail, Farihah & Khairiah, 2005).
Effects of cadmium on food safety
The increase in the cadmium contamination in the environment, leading to excessive
bioaccumulation of the metal, has resulted in an overall health concern (Jibril, Hassan, Ishak &
Megat Wahab, 2017). The long-term exposure to cadmium via the means of contaminated air,
soil, water or even food, has been determined to cause organ toxicity like kidney, liver,
reproductive, cardiovascular, neural and also respiratory, along with different types of cancers
(Rahimzadeh et al., 2017). The environmental issue of increased bioaccumulation can be reduced
by organizing different awareness programs and public education sessions, and also by
implementing stricter rules and regulations to help decrease the use of Cadmium-phosphorous
fertilizers and pesticides by the farmers (Jallow, Awadh, Albaho, Devi & Thomas, 2017).
Conclusion
Cadmium contaminating the overall food chain has become a global concern. This essay
concluded that cadmium toxicity is responsible for the fatal diseases like renal failure, and
several cardiovascular diseases and pulmonary diseases. This essay provided the detrimental
effects cadmium has on human health and environment leading to the hampering of the balance
in the food chain, creating a food safety and security concern.

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Cadmium Contamination in Food Chain
Case Study:
Answer to question 2:
The potential sources of cadmium exposure for the 60-year-old women mentioned in the case
study are as follows:
 Her husband owns a shop, for which the patient used to make jewelry in her basement,
using grinders and engraving equipment, wearing a face shield instead of a dust mask.
Over the years, cadmium has been incorporated in alloys, which are widely used to make
fine jewelry products. Thus, during the grinding process, the patient must have inhaled a
great deal of cadmium for about 35 years, not using dust mask. The basement also lacked
enough windows, which resulted in the limited release of the cadmium particles into the
outer environment, increasing the concentration of cadmium in the room, causing the
increase in probability of cadmium toxicity of the patient by air (Kampa & Castanas,
2008).
 The patient has been an avid smoker for more than 40 years, smoking one to two packs of
cigarettes a day. Tobacco leaves have been known to easily uptake cadmium from
contaminated agricultural soils.
 The patient and her husband own a garden, in which they grow vegetables for their
consumption. A wastewater plant is situated nearby, which provides them with free
fertilizer that they use in fertilizing their garden, which can have high concentrations of
cadmium in it (Jallow, Awadh, Albaho, Devi & Thomas, 2017).The garden also gets
irrigated using the municipal well, which is subjected to excessive cadmium poisoning
from the industrial wastes.

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Cadmium Contamination in Food Chain
 The patient has also been found guilty of eating and smoking in the basement, which
must have further increased her cadmium poisoning.
Answer to question 3:
The person described has been at an increased risk of cadmium toxicity, due to the
following key points mentioned in the case study:
 During the jewelry grinding process, the patient must have inhaled a great deal of
cadmium for about 35 years, by not using a dust mask.
 She was an active smoker for more than 40 years, which must have increased the
possibility of cadmium exposure of contaminated tobacco leaves (Maret and Moulis,
2012).
 Her diet mainly consists of leafy greens contaminated with cadmium, due to use of
fertilizers and contaminated irrigation water.
 She used to eat and smoke in the basement where she used to grind cadmium-containing
alloys for making jewelry.

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Cadmium Contamination in Food Chain
Answer to question 4:
Diet choices are very crucial in determining one’s health. The diet of the patient in the
case study mainly consisted of leafy greens, which were grown in the contaminated soil of their
garden (Sharma & Prasad, 2010). The leafy vegetables like spinach and broccoli can easily
uptake cadmium from the contaminated water from municipal well which was used in irrigating
the garden. The waste water industry played a great deal in contaminating their garden by first
providing them with cadmium- rich free fertilizers and also contaminating the ground water
leading to the contamination of the municipal well water (Sharma & Prasad, 2010). She even ate
in the basement, where she used to grind the cadmium containing alloys to make jewelry. These
choices resulted in her being affected by cadmium toxicity.
Answer to question 5:
The extent of the cadmium concentration can help understand the necessary procedure and
medications to be given to the patient to improve their health and treat them of the different
diseases. Cadmium concentration can be measured by testing the patient’s urine, blood or even
hair or nail samples, for identifying the extent of cadmium concentration (Rahimzadeh et al.,
2017). The patient could be further enquired about the whether she has had any flu-like
symptoms like coughing, throat irritation, fever or gastrointestinal problems like diarrhea and
nausea (Järup & Åkesson, 2009).The patient could be asked whether she faced any symptoms of
acute renal failure like fatigue, reduced amount of urine, pain in chest or persistent nausea and
confusion (Yang and Shu, 2015). Liver damage can also be identified by asking the patient about
the color of their stool. The patients might also exhibit symptoms ranging from itchy skin to
chronic fatigue.

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Cadmium Contamination in Food Chain
Answer to question 6:
The urinary cadmium (U-Cd) can be considered as a dependable biomarker of long-term
exposure in the population. The most important urinary biomarker is the density of urine. The
urinary concentrations of contaminants are greatly subjective by the level of dilution of the urine.
Thus, in case of cadmium toxicity, the density of urine can be used to indicate the increase in the
presence of cadmium. The normal cadmium concentration in urine range from 0.42 to 0.89 in
terms of intra class correlation (ICC) coefficients. However, the individuals suffering from recent
exposures, the level of cadmium content do not get traced (Jarup, 2000).

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Cadmium Contamination in Food Chain
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Cadmium Contamination in Food Chain
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