An increase of cadmium body burden for this century--an investigation on human tissues

During this century cadmium production, consumption and emissions to the atmospheric, aquatic and terrestrial environment have increased dramatically. Today, as a result of systematic investigations on the concentration of cadmium in human tissues, estimates of body burdens are available from 1968 onward. We have determined the concentrations of cadmium in old pathological--anatomical specimens (61 kidneys, 53 livers) from 1897-1939 (year of death) and found average concentrations of 0.86 micrograms Cd/g renal cortex and of 1.13 micrograms Cd/g liver. In comparison with our studies on modern autopsy material (n = 207) from 1980 the average liver concentration has not altered significantly, while in the renal cortex the concentration of cadmium has increased by a factor of 47 and the body burden by a factor of 4.7.