Cadmium exposure and health effects among residents in an irrigation area with ore dressing wastewater.
About 0.05 mg Cd l-1 was found in the irrigation water contaminated by the wastewater discharged from tungsten ore dressing plants, and about 1 mg Cd kg-1 was found in irrigated acid soils. The main sources of cadmium intake by residents of the polluted areas are agricultural products. The average intake of cadmium was 367-382 micrograms day-1, and for smokers 417 micrograms day-1. Among the residents who have been exposed to cadmium for more than 25 years, cadmium absorption (urinary cadmium greater than or equal to 10 micrograms g-1 creatine) was 60% and an early effect on the target organ (urinary cadmium greater than or equal to 15 micrograms g-1 creatinine and urinary beta 2-microglobulin greater than 500 micrograms g-1 creatinine) was detected in 17% of the sample of 433 persons. Levels of urinary cadmium and blood cadmium exceeded the critical value in the exposed group. The concentrations of urinary calcium, beta 2-microglobulin and N-acetyl-beta-D-glucosaminidase were significantly higher in residents of contaminated areas than in those of control areas. Case-control study of the residents shows that many have suffered from a nephropathy with tubulo-interstitial abnormalities. Owing to the combined cadmium effect, the cases with fractional beta 2-microglobulin excretion greater than 0.10 were 46% in the exposed population, and were much higher than that in the control group (20.3%).
Cai
S W
SW
Institute of Environmental Health and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, Beijing.
Yue
L
L
Hu
Z N
ZN
Zhong
X Z
XZ
Ye
Z L
ZL
Xu
H D
HD
Liu
Y R
YR
Ji
R D
RD
Zhang
W H
WH
Zhang
F Y
FY
D000328:Adult; D000383:Agriculture; D001822:Body Burden; D002105:Cadmium Poisoning / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002118:Calcium / Q000378:metabolism; D002681:China; D004781:Environmental Exposure; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007684:Kidney Tubules / Q000187:drug effects; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010758:Phosphorus / Q000378:metabolism; D012423:Rural Health; D012722:Sewage; D014414:Tungsten; D014865:Waste Disposal, Fluid; D015032:Zinc / Q000378:metabolism
D012722:Sewage; D010758:Phosphorus; D015032:Zinc; D002118:Calcium; D014414:Tungsten