The effect of cadmium on the environment.

Information on the effect of cadmium in the environment reported during the past several years has raised considerable questions about the validity of past conclusions. For example, it appears that the critical concentration of cadmium in the renal cortex may be significantly higher than previously thought, and also, there is growing evidence that cadmium was not responsible for Itai-Itai disease in Japan. These findings concerning cadmium are encouraging and indicate that while cadmium is certainly toxic, the new information should be considered by governmental authorities before steps are taken to enact overly stringent regulations based on assumptions and regulations that may no longer be correct.