France sick with cadmium, a "health bomb", warn private doctors

It's neither a pesticide nor a permanent pollutant. Yet, it massively contaminates the French, especially children, through their food. So much so that private doctors have decided to sound the alarm about what they consider a "health bomb" : cadmium. Less well-known than lead, mercury, or arsenic, cadmium is a heavy metal classified as a definite human carcinogen. Present in phosphate fertilizers used in agriculture, it accumulates in the soil and has contaminated the most commonly consumed foods: breakfast cereals, bread, pasta, and potatoes.

In a letter sent on Monday, June 2, to the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Health, Agriculture and Ecological Transition, the National Conference of Regional Unions of Healthcare Professionals - Liberal Physicians (URPS-ML) expressed its "great concern." "Exposure to cadmium is a health bomb," comments Pascal Meyvaert, the coordinator of the URPS-ML health and environment working group. There is a health emergency; it is our duty to call on the public authorities to protect citizens. The State can no longer ignore this public health scourge!

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