Murstig 1!

Cadmium, an environmental concern

Cadmium (Cd) is a soft bluish white metal, and is usually found together with zinc when
it is mined. Cd2+, its common state, is ranked number 7 in the Top 20 Hazardous Substances
Priority List by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry1. Originally discovered in
Germany in 1817, it was first used for pigment mineral powders in the form of CdS and CdSe,
giving a bright hue of yellow, orange or red. Today, cadmium is used most significantly as
electrodes in rechargeable nicad batteries. Within the battery is an equilibrium process allowing
for current to be created for use until the battery is used up, then recreated with recharging of the
battery. This process can be seen below2,
Cd (s) + 2 OH- Cd(OH)2 (s) + 2 e-
Most cadmium is produced as a byproduct of zinc smelting and sometimes from lead or
copper smelters. Contamination comes from these mining processes where cadmium enters into
the water, soil and the air. One famous case occurred in 1955 in the Jintsu River Valley region of
Japan2. This problem occurred with the irrigation of rice fields using water from rivers that
contained dissolved cadmium from a zinc mining and smelting operation upstream. Since
cadmium is rather soluble in water, this dissolved cadmium was particularly accelerated in the
low pH conditions such as those that were created by acid mine drainage. Additionally, chemical
processing agents such as sulfuric acid is used to separate zinc from the ore thus creating sulfide
ions as an additional byproduct in the water. When sulfide ions are present, precipitation to
cadmium sulfide (CdS) occurs through the following process:
Cd2+ (aq) + S2- (aq) CdS (s)
Cadmium sulfide can be especially toxic to humans and consumption of rice from the cadmium-
laden effluent from the river resulted in decalcification of bones and multiple fractures for the
people living in the area.

Cadmium contamination also comes from the burning of coal and the disposal of
incineration of waste materials. Airborne cadmium oxide is introduced into the environment and
travels long distances as fine suspended particulate matter before falling to the ground. Due to
cadmiums preference to condense onto the smallest particles in incineration smoke streams, it
easily bypasses pollution control devices that are inserted into gas stacks2. Detecting cadmium is
done using environmental samples of soil, water and air by various methods including atomic
absorption spectroscopy (AAS), atomic emission spectroscopy (AES), particulate matter on
filters, inductively coupled plasma (ICP), mass spectrometry and radiochemical neutron
activation analysis3.
The greatest human exposure to cadmium comes from our food supply via seafood and
organ meats, specifically kidney meats. As a natural element, it can be found in rocks and soil
where it has been found to contaminate foods such as potatoes, wheat, rice and other grains2.
Cadmium is a known human carcinogen and its human health effects include significant damage
to kidneys, lungs and bones. Detection of cadmium is very important in biological samples and
can be performed by many methods but most commonly via blood and serum tests that are
analyzed using AAS or ICP/AES methods4.
 Murstig 2!

References

1. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. Toxic Substances Portal-Cadmium. 2016
[Online] http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxfaqs/tf.asp?id=47&tid=15

2. Baird, Colin. Environmental Chemistry. Fifth ed. New York: W.H. Freeman, 1995. Print.

3. Faroon O, Ashizawa A, Wright S, et al. Toxicological Profile for Cadmium. [Online] 2012

Sept, http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK158833/

4. ALS Environmental, Cadmium Exposure and Testing. [Online] 2016 http://www.caslab.com/

News/cadmium-testing.html