The focus of this report is upon information essential to the understanding of the toxic action of cadmium and the relationship between dose (exposure) and effects on human beings and animals. The therapy of cadmium poisoning has not been discussed.This review on cadmium in the environment has been performed under a contract between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Environmental Hygiene of the Karolinska Institute, Sweden. The report is intended to serve as a background paper for a future Air Quality Criteria document on cadmium. Therefore, particular attention has been given to information relevant for the evaluation of risks due to long-term exposure to low concentrations of cadmium. Acute effects from short-term exposure to high concentrations are dealt with briefly. In vitro studies without bearing on the main problem have not been dealt with.The report is not limited to effects from exposure via inhalation. Newly accessible information, showing that large populations may be exposed considerably via the oral route, can elucidate chronic effects of cadmium in general. Man and animals can be victims of secondary exposure through vehicles such as food and water which have been contaminated by cadmium in air.

This document is the result of a conference on "Biological Monitoring of Metals" held in Rochester, June 2-6, 1986, organized jointly by the Environmental Health Sciences Center of the School of Medicine and Dentistry of the University of Rochester, NY, and the Scientific Committee on the Toxicology of Metals within the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) at the Karolinska Institute and the National (Swedish) Institute of Environmental Medicine and the University of Umea, Sweden. The aim of the Conference was to define and evaluate the scientific basis for the biological monitoring of metals. The conference was co-sponsored by the World Health Organization through its International Program on Chemical Safety and received substantial encouragement and support from the Swedish Work Environmental Fund and the United States Environmental Protection Agency. This was the second conference organized jointly by the Scientific Committee on the Toxicology of Metals and The Toxicology Division of the University of Rochester. The previous joint conference was held in 1982 on the Reproductive and Developmental Toxicity of Metals. In addition, conferences have been organized by each group (see Appendices A and B). Several of these conferences are specially relevant to the topic of the current conference. These include the joint conference mentioned above and the conferences on dose-effect and dose-response relationship held in Tokyo in 1974 and on accumulation of metals held in Buenos Aires in 1972.