The impact of toxic chemicals on human health. Why cadmium is harmful to humans and how to remove it from the body

Cadmium (Cd) is a metal from the elements of the periodic table. Rarely found in nature pure form. It usually accompanies zinc ore in minimal impurities. Opened in 1817.

Considered extremely toxic and hazardous to human health and life. May fall into tap water, be absorbed by plants from the soil (and thus get into food), is released during various types production. The photo below shows what cadmium looks like on the surface of the rock.

In the photo, the rock high content cadmium

Where is cadmium found

Carriers of cadmium are: fish; chicken eggs; shrimp, squid (and other seafood from industrial areas); animal kidneys and their meat (in particular: beef and pork); vegetables growing on contaminated soil; mushrooms; margarine; chocolate; rice.

Except food products, sources of harmful metal for humans can be:

1. cigarette smoke;
2. drinking water;
3. chewing gum.

How cadmium enters the human body

Cadmium can enter the body not only with food or water poisoned with heavy metals. Here are just a few sources:

• Emissions of factory and factory pipes;
• car smog;
• work in heavy production;
• medicines containing the appropriate chemical compounds may also serve as sources of infection.

Cadmium enters the lungs or esophagus, and from there into the blood. It spreads to all human tissues and organs, in which it accumulates. Gradually but surely. It is excreted only with feces and urine in microscopic doses. Its half-life is 25 years.

What is dangerous cadmium for the human body

Cadmium hits everything life systems human, blocking the absorption essential substances contributes to the development of numerous diseases: from anemia and bone fragility to cancer.

In the body of men after 40 years, the amount of cadmium is 2 times higher than its amount in female body. It is believed that both hormones and differences in the lifestyle that modern ladies and knights lead are “to blame” here. Men: busy harmful production; do not monitor their own nutrition; smoke more; drink unpurified tap water, etc.

Cadmium poisoning can be acute or chronic. Acute (occurs when high concentrations of it are inhaled for a long time) can be fatal if the victim is not given first aid.

Symptoms of cadmium poisoning

An overdose of cadmium in the human body (as well as - acute poisoning them in one form or another) is expressed in the following symptoms:

1. dizziness (up to fainting);
2. nausea and vomiting;
3. damage to the central nervous system;
4. convulsions.

Cadmium poisoning, unfortunately, is often chronic. It begins to manifest itself outwardly months and even years after exceeding the safe proportion of the substance in the body. Here are its symptoms:

• problems of the urinary and reproductive systems (especially in men);
• protein and glucose in the urine;
• microglobulinuria;
• cancerous tumors;
• fibrous lesion of the broncho-pulmonary system;
• anemia;
• emphysema;
• hypertension, etc.

How to remove cadmium from the body

1. First aid is to warm the victim and bring him to Fresh air. Heated milk with soda will clear the airways.
2. You can do soda inhalation.
3. Induce vomiting, clear the stomach.
4. At persistent cough- take "Codeine" or "Dionin", put mustard plasters.
5. If possible, take to the first-aid post - intravenous infusions and serious therapeutic measures may be required.

In cases chronic poisoning cadmium, a systematic approach is required:.

• If the encounter with cadmium occurs in the workplace, you should immediately leave such work and switch to a safer service;
• need to quit smoking;
• reduce the consumption of alcohol and products containing toxins (see paragraph 1 of the same article);
• regular exercise;
• it is recommended to visit the bath and sauna at least once a month (since salts are also removed with sweat heavy metals);
• eat more fiber (vegetables tested for cadmium contamination, including);
• accept multivitamin complexes(a lack of zinc and magnesium in the body is dangerous along with an excess of cadmium);
• numerous folk remedies(from coriander to chlorella algae) I will not consider, because the benefits have not been proven, and the harm can be no less than from cadmium itself.

In conclusion, I will say: a stable and harmonious ecological situation in your place of residence and a personal healthy lifestyle - the best prevention contamination of the body with cadmium!

Cadmium

The distribution of cadmium in the environment is local. He enters environment with waste from metallurgical industries, sewage electroplating industries (after cadmium plating), other industries that use cadmium-containing stabilizers, pigments, paints and as a result of the use of phosphate fertilizers. In addition, cadmium is present in the air of large cities due to abrasion of tires, erosion of certain types of plastic products, paints and adhesives.

Cadmium enters drinking water due to pollution of water sources by industrial discharges, with reagents used at the stage of water treatment, and also as a result of migration from water supply structures. The proportion of cadmium entering the body with water, in total daily dose is 5-10%.

The normative content of cadmium in the atmospheric air is 0.3 µg/m 3 , in the water of water sources - 0.001 mg/l, in the soils - sandy and sandy loamy acidic and neutral 0.5, 1.0 and 2.0 mg/kg, respectively. According to WHO recommendations allowable level cadmium intake is 7 mcg/kg of body weight per week.

In Russia, the largest sources of cadmium emissions into the atmospheric air are metallurgical plants. The amount of cadmium emissions into the air basin currently does not exceed 5 tons per year. The systematic determination of its content in the air is carried out in 50 cities of Russia. It has been established that the average annual concentration of this metal is at the level of 0.1 µg/m 3 . In places where cadmium sources of pollution are located, it is necessary to take into account the possibility of its excessive intake with agricultural products grown on contaminated soils.

When determining the impact of cadmium on the health of the population, biomonitoring is widely used. The main diagnostic medium is urine, with which cadmium is excreted from the body. For the first time, the acceptable level of cadmium in urine (9 μg / l) was established by the Japanese Ministry of Health in 1970. Subsequently, the Association of Occupational Hygienists of the United States proposed introducing more low rate- 5 µg/g creatinine (7 µg/l urine) and 5 µg/l blood.

The calculation of the degree of absorption of cadmium by the body indicates the dominant role of the inhalation route of intake. Removal of cadmium is slow. The period of its biological half-life in the body ranges from 15 to 47 years. The main amount of cadmium is excreted from the body with urine (1-2 mcg/day) and feces (10-50 mcg/day).

The amount of cadmium that enters the human body with air in unpolluted areas, where its content does not exceed 1 μg / m 3, is less than 1% from the daily dose.

Up to 50% of cadmium that enters the body by inhalation settles in the lungs. The degree of absorption of cadmium by the lungs depends on the solubility of the compound, its dispersion and functional state respiratory organs. In the gastrointestinal tract, the absorption of cadmium is on average 5%, so its amount that actually enters the tissues of the body is much less than that supplied with food.

The age of a person influences the retention of cadmium in the body. In children and adolescents, the degree of its absorption is 5 times higher than in adults. Cadmium is absorbed through the lungs and gastrointestinal tract, after a few minutes it is found in the blood, but its level rapidly decreases during the first day.

An additional source of cadmium in the body is smoking. One cigarette contains 1-2 micrograms of cadmium, and about 10% of it enters the respiratory system. Street smokers up to 30 cigarettes a day accumulate 13-52 micrograms of cadmium in the body over 40 years, which exceeds its amount from food.

Cadmium has carcinogenic (group 2A), gonadotropic, embryotropic, mutagenic and nephrotoxic effects. The Real Threat adverse impact per population, even low levels pollution is associated with a high biological cumulation of this metal. Consequences of short contact with high concentrations cadmium in the air of the working area lead to pulmonary fibrosis, persistent impairment of pulmonary and hepatic functions.

The target organs of cadmium are the lungs, liver, kidneys, Bone marrow, sperm, tubular bones and partly the spleen. Cadmium is deposited in the liver and kidneys, where it contains up to 30% of total in the body. Comparative determination of cadmium content in renal tissue people who lived in the 19th century, and those who died of various diseases at the end of the 20th century, showed that the concentration of cadmium in the kidneys of representatives of the 20th century. 4 times higher (Tetior A.N., 2008).

The most severe form of chronic cadmium poisoning is itai-itai disease, first discovered in 1946 in Japan. For many years, the population subsisted on rice grown in fields irrigated with water from a river that had been exposed to cadmium from the mine. Its concentration in rice, as it turned out, reached 1 μg / g, and intake in the body exceeded 300 μg. Since the disease mainly affected women over 45 years of age who had multiple pregnancies, it is likely that the lack of vitamin D and calcium, as well as depletion of the body during pregnancy, were predisposing pathogenetic factors for the onset of this disease. Itai-itai is characterized by a deformation of the skeleton with a noticeable decrease in height, accompanied by pain in the lower back and leg muscles, and a duck-like gait. And kidney damage is similar to the symptoms that are noted in chronic occupational cadmium poisoning.

Changes in kidney function when exposed to cadmium have been found by researchers in other parts of the world as well. In Belgium (province of Liege), impaired renal function (up to deaths) in women living near a metallurgical plant. Certain disorders of kidney function were identified by K.A. Bushtueva, B.A. Revich, L.E. Bezpalko (1989) and among Russian women - residents of Vladikavkaz.

The carcinogenic effect of cadmium is manifested in an increase in the incidence of cancer. prostate at workers of cadmium productions. Lifetime carcinogenic risk when exposed to cadmium concentration of 1 µg/m 3 is 1.8-10~3 (Revich B.A., 2002).

Most cadmium accumulates in the kidneys, in duodenum and in the liver. Cadmium from food is practically not absorbed (in small intestine and about 5%), much better organism absorbs this microelement from the air. Helps the absorption of cadmium zinc, calcium, copper and fiber. The rate of excretion of cadmium is very slow, so the amount of this heavy metal in the body only increases over the years, which can lead to health problems. Cadmium is a heavy and very toxic metal.
Metallurgy and the oil refining industry poison water and soil with cadmium, they, in turn, poison plants and animals, and, accordingly, people. The carcinogenic effect of nicotine is enhanced precisely by the presence of cadmium.

Daily requirement for cadmium:
According to some sources, it is stated that optimal dose cadmium per day can be from 1 to 5 mcg.

Cadmium deficiency symptoms:
With insufficient intake of cadmium in the body (less than 0.5 mcg / day), its deficiency may develop.
The main, and possibly the only, manifestation of cadmium deficiency is growth retardation. It was observed with artificial cadmium deficiency in laboratory animals.

Symptoms of excess cadmium:
Cadmium is a rather toxic trace element. Even at low concentrations (from 3 to 330 mg), it can manifest itself negative impact on the human body. A dose of 30 mcg per day is considered toxic to humans. The amount of cadmium in the amount of 1 to 9 g can be considered a lethal dose.
Symptoms of excess include:
elevated arterial pressure;
impaired renal function;
impaired lung function;
decrease in the level of enzyme activity;
anemia (decrease in the concentration of hemoglobin in the blood);
increases the possibility of development cardiovascular disease;
an increased risk of developing malignant formations;
unexpected bone fractures, as cadmium leaches calcium;
long time it is not possible to conceive a child, from six months;
in rare case loss of smell;
itai-itai disease (accompanied by very severe pain in the joints and spine, kidney failure and osteomalacia - softening of the bones; deformities of the bones of the skeleton, a decrease in the mineralization of the bone substance).

What foods contain cadmium:
Seafood: mainly oysters and mussels;
Leafy (green) vegetables: all types of cabbage, spinach and sorrel, basil, parsley and dill;
Cereals: cereals.

Cadmium, translated from Greek, means "zinc ore". This "dangerous" element is a soft silver-white metal. It is mainly used in low-melting alloys, in nuclear power and as protective coatings. Cadmium is obtained as a by-product from the processing of zinc ore. In this article, Cadmium in the Human Body, we will talk in more detail about this element and how it affects health and the human body as a whole.

Large amounts of cadmium are hazardous to health. You can get poisoned by cadmium if you consume water, vegetables and grains growing near metallurgical enterprises and oil refineries. The main signs of cadmium poisoning include:

• Unbearable muscle pain
• Skeletal deformities
• Bone fractures (cadmium leaches calcium from the body)
• Violations of the functions of internal organs

In excess in the body, cadmium contributes to the development of malignant tumors.

Cadmium is excreted in urine and feces, about 48 mg of this element is excreted from the body per day. Cadmium accumulates mainly in the kidneys and liver, a small amount of accumulates in the blood.

There is a sad pattern: the better the industry is developed in the country, the greater the amount of cadmium accumulates in the soil. Cadmium reacts with superphosphates and is easily absorbed by plants in large enough quantities, if the soil contains little superphosphates, then cadmium is practically not absorbed, or it is absorbed, but in a minimal amount.

Cadmium is one of the most toxic substances, it belongs to the second class of danger. Like most other heavy metals, cadmium tends to accumulate in the body. Its half-life is 10-35 years. After 50 years, its content in the body can be no more than 30-50 mg. The main storage of this element is the kidneys, they accumulate approximately 30-60%, the second place is taken by the liver - 20-25%. In addition, cadmium accumulates in tubular bones, pancreas, spleen and other tissues and organs.

In the body, cadmium is found predominantly in bound state: most often it interacts with metallothionein proteins, which provide natural protection for the body, in addition, according to latest research, cadmium also binds to alpha-2 globulin, in this form cadmium is less toxic, although not harmless. Bound cadmium, accumulating in the body for years, can cause considerable harm to health, in particular, it can lead to impaired functioning of the kidneys and, as a result, to an increased likelihood of kidney stones. In addition, some of the cadmium in the human body is in ionic form, which is even more toxic. Cadmium is similar in properties to zinc, so it can easily replace it in a number of biochemical reactions, for example, it can act as a pseudo-activator, or, on the contrary, as an inhibitor of zinc-containing enzymes and proteins, and there are about two hundred of them in the body.

How to protect the body from the effects of cadmium?

To protect the body from dangerous impact of this chemical element, it is necessary to eliminate the main causes of its entry into the soil and into the atmosphere. First of all, it is necessary to provide all industrial enterprises, without exception, with high-quality treatment facilities, despite their rather impressive high cost. Fields, lakes, rivers, and, of course, housing should be located at a considerable distance from industrial facilities. Appropriate measures must be taken to combat smoking. In addition, the absorption of cadmium can be slightly reduced by eating selenium, which, in fact, is an antidote to most heavy metals.

But it should be borne in mind that the use of products containing selenium can reduce the sulfur content, thereby the level of cadmium in the body will again become dangerous. Increased dose This trace element contributes to metabolic disorders. So, with an excess of cadmium, higher average norm, which is 50 mcg, may be disturbed salt metabolism: calcium, iron, copper, magnesium and zinc. There is an antagonism between iron and cadmium, and it is for this reason that geochemical studies must predict nutritional value products, given the presence of antagonistic elements.

The main problems associated with excess cadmium content

Cadmium can cause toxic manifestations of moderate and moderate severity. It affects the kidneys, as a result of excessive cadmium content in the body, there is an increase blood pressure. This element is not as toxic as mercury or lead because it cannot penetrate the head and spinal cord person.

Reduce the toxicity of this chemical element and remove it from the organs and tissues of the body in an extremely severe cases can be done by introducing a large number vitamins intravenously. In addition, preparations containing copper, zinc, selenium and iron are prescribed.

Try to avoid eating refined and contaminated foods. marine products, but at the same time, do not forget about the content of zinc in your body.

Acute food poisoning when using cadmium, it occurs as a result of entering the human body large doses of this element with water (15 mg) or with food (30 mg). The main symptoms of cadmium poisoning are considered to be the appearance of vomiting, pain and convulsions in epigastric region. Much poisoning is more dangerous this chemical element when inhaling cadmium-containing dust or cadmium vapor. Symptoms given poisoning is headache, pulmonary edema, vomiting or nausea, weakness, diarrhea, chills. Such poisoning in some cases ends in death.

Cadmium is considered the culprit in the development of lesions nervous system, kidneys, genital organs in men and women. In addition, cadmium is able to increase blood pressure, and some researchers argue that cadmium salts are carcinogenic products. Most exposed to cadmium intoxication female part population, in particular those women who have a lack of calcium and iron in the body. Usually similar states observed during pregnancy, during breastfeeding, or as a result of blood loss during critical days. Of men, the risk group for cadmium poisoning is primarily smokers: one pack of cigarettes contains approximately 3-4 micrograms, of which 1 microgram is completely absorbed by the body. Calcium, iron, zinc can interfere with the absorption of cadmium, but you should not abuse these microelements, otherwise you can achieve their overdose.

How to protect the body from the effects of cadmium? Large quantities cadmium is very hazardous to health. AT drinking water MPC for cadmium 0.001 mg/dm³ (SanPiN 2.1.4.1074-01).

In excess in the body, cadmium contributes to the development of malignant tumors. Cadmium is excreted in urine and feces, about 48 mg of this element is excreted from the body per day. Like most other heavy metals, cadmium tends to accumulate in the body.

In addition, some of the cadmium in the human body is in ionic form, which is even more toxic. In order to protect the body from the dangerous effects of this chemical element, it is necessary to eliminate the main causes of its entry into the soil and into the atmosphere.

Cadmium in the human body

In addition, the absorption of cadmium can be slightly reduced by eating selenium, which, in fact, is an antidote to most heavy metals. But it should be borne in mind that the use of products containing selenium can reduce the sulfur content, thereby the level of cadmium in the body will again become dangerous.

Acrylamide and cadmium in the human body and food dioxins

Cadmium can cause toxic manifestations of moderate and moderate severity. It affects the kidneys, as a result of the excessive content of cadmium in the body, an increase in blood pressure is observed.

In extremely severe cases, it is possible to reduce the toxicity of this chemical element and remove it from the organs and tissues of the body by administering a large amount of vitamins intravenously.

Cadmium is considered the culprit in the development of lesions of the nervous system, kidneys, genital organs in men and women. In addition, cadmium is able to increase blood pressure, and some researchers argue that cadmium salts are carcinogenic products.

Calcium, iron, zinc can interfere with the absorption of cadmium, but you should not abuse these microelements, otherwise you can achieve their overdose.

People are poisoned by cadmium by drinking water and grains, vegetables growing on lands located near oil refineries and metallurgical enterprises.

Too much cadmium can cause malignant tumors. The carcinogenic effect of nicotine in tobacco smoke, usually associated with the presence of cadmium.

Even "bound" cadmium, accumulating over the years, can lead to health problems, in particular, to disruption of the kidneys and increased likelihood formation of kidney stones.

In addition, the absorption of cadmium can be reduced by concomitant administration of selenium, which serves as an antidote not only for mercury, but also for other metals. However, eating foods rich in selenium tends to lower the sulfur content, and cadmium becomes dangerous again.

This is why corroded water pipes contain excess cadmium instead of iron - dangerous enemy our body. Cadmium enters the body cigarette smoke, some types of paint, water, coffee, tea and contaminated foods, especially refined grains.

The absorption of cadmium is hindered by iron, calcium and zinc, but diligently leaning on these metals, they too can be overdosed.

Sunflower seeds good or bad?

Harm of soda. Stromeyer isolated a brown oxide from ZnO, reduced it with hydrogen, and obtained a silvery-white metal, which was called cadmium. Stromeyer named cadmium after the Greek name for the ore from which zinc was mined in Germany - καδμεία.

1. Cadmium inhalation.

Cadmium does not form independent deposits, but is part of the ores of deposits of other metals.

The only mineral that is of interest in obtaining cadmium is greenockite, the so-called "cadmium blende". It is mined together with sphalerite in the development of zinc ores. During processing, cadmium is concentrated into by-products process, from where it is then extracted.

Cadmium is located in the same group of the periodic table with zinc and mercury, occupying an intermediate position between them, so some Chemical properties these elements are similar.

Cadmium is one of the most toxic substances, it belongs to the second hazard class. Much more dangerous is poisoning with this chemical element when inhaling cadmium-containing dust or cadmium vapor.