Current Intelligence Bulletin 42 – Cadmium (CD)

The purpose of this bulletin is to disseminate recent information concerning the potential carcinogenic hazard to workers of cadmium (Cd). In 1976, NIOSH published Criteria for a Recommended Standard….Occupational Exposure to Cadmium, recommending a permissible exposure limit of 40 micrograms of cadmium per cubic meter of air (40 µg/m3) which was viewed as necessary to prevent chronic renal damage in exposed workers. Epidemiological and toxicological data suggesting an association between cadmium exposure and cancer were cited in that document, but the evidence for carcinogenicity was considered to be inconclusive at that time. Based on subsequent epidemiological and toxicological studies, NIOSH now recommends that cadmium and its compounds be regarded as potential occupational carcinogens.

Cadmium (Cd)