Cadmium (Cd)

A silver-white, shiny metal which is used in numerous industrial processes (e.g. in plastic manafacture) and products (e.g. Nickel-cadmium Batteries). Cadmium is enriched through the Food Chain in plants and animals, and also in the human organism, and causes damage at high concentrations to the lungs, kidneys and skeleton. Relatively high cadmium concentrations are being found in vegetables, edible fungi and, above all, in the entrails of animals for slaughter.