A toxic metal that has long eluded scrutiny, cadmium is quietly poisoning the French population via their favourite food staples, from bread and breakfast cereals to pasta and potatoes. Nearly half of French residents are exposed to levels exceeding recommendations, the country’s health and food safety agency ANSES said in a March report, warning that women and children are most at risk. Contamination rates are three to four times higher than in most other European countries, according to the study. It cites food as the primary source of contamination, accounting for up to 98 percent of exposure in non-smokers. ANSES called for urgent action to address a crisis long ignored by France’s government, despite the repeated warnings of scientists and health professionals alarmed by a surge in cases of pancreatic cancer and other ailments linked to the heavy metal. Read moreFrench population overexposed to cadmium through food, health agency says Experts link this French idiosyncrasy – and the prevailing political inertia – to the vested interests of an entrenched agricultural sector that remains largely resistant to change. They also point the finger at geopolitical considerations with deep roots in the country’s colonial past. Time bomb Less well known than other heavy metals like lead or mercury, cadmium is classified as a proven carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. The European Union also labels it “toxic to reproduction”. In June last year, a group of French doctors wrote to the prime minister as well as the ministers of health, agriculture and ecology, warning that cadmium exposure was a “public health time bomb”. The toxic metal spreads though the bloodstream and accumulates in the kidneys and liver, also settling on the pancreas, lungs and bones, says Pierre Souvet, a cardiologist and president of the French Association for Health and the Environment (AESF). “It causes neurological and reproductive disorders, increases cardiovascular risks and leads to bone fragility ranging from osteoporosis to multiple fractures,” Souvet explains. “It also increases the risk of cancer, particularly pancreatic or lung cancer.” Cadmium can also replace essential minerals inside the body, causing the types of iron and calcium deficiencies to which women and children are particularly vulnerable.