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n March 25, France's national agency for food, environmental and occupational health safety (ANSES) confirmed in a report that reference toxicological values for cadmium had been exceeded in a significant number of French people, with children particularly affected; food is the main source of exposure. The agency recommends taking action on phosphate fertilizers.
In the report, the agency did not conclude that there was a proven causal link between cadmium and pancreatic cancer. However, as soon as it was published, the debate became polarized: On one side, some doctors saw cadmium as a plausible explanation for the increase in these cancers in France; on the other, some argued that ANSES had not established this link, and that claiming otherwise would amount to activism.
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Key facts to understand cadmium, an emerging public health issue
