Cadmium concentrations in blood samples from an East Greenlandic population

An analysis for cadmium was made of 101 human blood samples from the district of Angmagssalik, East Greenland, and 29 from East Greenlanders living temporarily in Copenhagen. No relationship could be found between concentrations of blood cadmium and ethnic origin (Eskimos--Danes), sex, age or amount of seal eaten. Only smoking habits were reflected, as a median of 2.2 micrograms/l was found in smokers and 1.1 in non-smokers. Since analyses of organs from seals have suggested that the WHO provisional, tolerable weekly intake is exceeded by a factor as high as 10 as a result of seal eating, it is surprising that seal eating is without any effect on the blood concentration.