METALLOPATHY Evidence on heavy metals in people

Static evidence pages. Grades A to F. Sources named.

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Metals

What does the evidence say about cadmium in people?

EFSA set a cadmium tolerable weekly intake of 2.5 µg/kg body weight from a urinary cadmium reference point of 1 µg/g creatinine, with kidney tubular effects as the critical endpoint. EPA's oral reference doses, last updated in 1989, are 0.0005 mg/kg/day for water and 0.001 mg/kg/day for food, based on proteinuria. The ATSDR profile now posted is an October 2026 draft, so its minimal risk levels are provisional.

Reference values

EFSA in 2009, recorded in the corpus from the opinion abstract, set a tolerable weekly intake of 2.5 µg/kg body weight, derived from urinary cadmium of 1 µg/g creatinine. EFSA 2009.

EPA IRIS, last updated 1 October 1989, lists an oral reference dose of 5 x 10^-4 mg/kg/day for water and 1 x 10^-3 mg/kg/day for food, both for significant proteinuria. The inhalation unit risk is 1.8 x 10^-3 per µg/m3. The 1987 weight of evidence is B1, probable human carcinogen, based on limited human evidence. EPA IRIS cadmium.

The saved ATSDR cadmium file is labeled Draft for Public Comment, October 2026. The corpus records these draft minimal risk levels as checked against it: acute oral 0.002 mg/kg/day; no intermediate oral value; chronic oral 0.0003 mg/kg/day (0.3 µg/kg/day) from human renal data; acute inhalation 0.000002 mg/m3; chronic inhalation 0.0001 mg/m3. A 2012 final value of 0.1 µg/kg/day was not verified and is not used. The corpus also records a whole-body half-time of 20 to 30 years, with the kidney as the main storage organ. ATSDR cadmium draft.

IARC classifies cadmium and cadmium compounds in Group 1, as cited by the ATSDR draft and recorded in the corpus. IARC volume 100C. A WHO drinking-water value of 3 µg/L is recorded in the corpus as checked via that draft. WHO GDWQ. A JECFA monthly intake recorded only as a citation inside the draft is not restated here as a separate extraction.

NHANES 2017 to 2018

Read from the saved CDC tables. Total U.S. population. Not toxicity thresholds. Urine cadmium is unadjusted µg/L, not µg/g creatinine. The EFSA reference point uses creatinine adjustment, so these urine percentiles are not that reference point.

Cadmium, NHANES 2017 to 2018, total population
AnalyteGeometric mean (95% CI)50th95th (95% CI)n
Blood cadmium (µg/L) 0.241 (0.229 to 0.253) 0.220 (0.210 to 0.230) 1.28 (1.04 to 1.52) 7513
Urine cadmium (µg/L) 0.132 (0.122 to 0.144) 0.137 (0.119 to 0.160) 0.832 (0.732 to 0.898) 2808

Related pages

Sources

  1. EFSA 2009 cadmium opinion, doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2009.980
  2. EPA IRIS, Cadmium, substance 141
  3. ATSDR Toxicological Profile for Cadmium, draft for public comment, October 2026
  4. IARC Monographs volume 100C
  5. WHO Guidelines for drinking-water quality
  6. CDC National Report data tables

Heavy Metal Index

Heavy Metal Index: Cadmium. This Heavy Metal Index URL returned HTTP 200 on 15 October 2026. Figures on this page are not copied from that index. They come from the sources named above.

What's safe to buy

The Heavy Metal Tested and Certified public register listed no licensees on 15 October 2026. That page reported 0 certified brands and 0 certified products, and it stated that no brand has completed the three-lot baseline. A specimen layout on the register is an illustration, not a licensee. This page does not name or rank any brand.

The program states that certification is a measurement of a product against a published limit, not a statement that the product is safe. If a licensee is later listed for this category, it will be on the register.

This page summarizes cited documents. It does not diagnose or prescribe. Reviewed 15 October 2026.