Health effects of cadmium with special reference to studies in Japan.

This paper gives an overview of the health effects of cadmium with special emphasis on the natural history of cadmium poisoning. The following questions are discussed: (1) Do the renal changes caused by cadmium result in both glomerular and tubular dysfunction? (2) What is the fate of these renal changes? (3) What is the relationship between renal changes and osteomalacia? (4) Is there a dose-response relationship between cadmium exposure and renal dysfunction? (5) What is the solution to the enigma of cadmium and respiratory cancer? Although innumerable papers have been published, the above questions remain unanswered. The natural history of cadmium poisoning is ironically more complicated than that of communicable diseases in man despite the fact that the element is static and not propagated in living organisms.