Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI): For inorganic arsenic trioxide the ADI is not agreed upon; it is estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at 182 µg. None is reported for organic arsenic.

Toxic Body or Organ Burden: No information is available for fish arsenic.

Steady Daily Intake for Toxicity: Inorganic arsenic intake in children of 1.3-3.6 mg results in lesions in 33 days (subacute). Water levels of 0.9-3.4 mg per liter (L) result in skin lesions of adults. No information is available for fish arsenic.

Cadmium is both an occuptional and an environmental toxicant. Occupational toxicity is, for the most part, related to inhalation, whereas environmental outbreaks are related to ingestion via contaminated food or water. Cadmium toxicity in man and animals has been extensively reviewed (ATSDR, 1989b; Friberg et al., 1985; Nriagu, 1981). Acceptable daily intake levels for cadmium may be difficult to determine for that segment of the population who are smokers. The prevalence, among cadmium-exposed individuals, of beta-2-microglobulin excretion may be three times higher in smokers than nonsmokers (Ellis et al., 1979; Hansen et al., 1985; Kjellström et al., 1977).

Half-life: Three phases are suggested. For phases 1 (<20 days) and 2 (20+ days), the half-life is estimated at 170 days. Phase 3 is estimated at 10-30 years (Friberg et al., 1974).

Blood LOAEL: Blood levels of cadmium poorly reflect the body burden but do indicate recent exposure.

Tissue LOAEL: The critical level in kidney is 200-285 ppm (effects are nephropathy and proteinuria). The LOAEL normally reaches a peak of 40-50 µg/g at age 50. Hair levels may reflect long-term exposure (Whanger, 1979).

Percent Absorption: About 2.7-5.9% is absorbed, usually considered 5% for all forms; absorption is determined by feeding humans radiolabeled cadmium (Newton et al., 1984).

Age, Sex, Reproductive Status, and Interindividual Variability of Response: Toxic effects, especially renal damage, are closely related to age, with greatest prevalence among those over 50 years (Fukushima et al., 1974). Multiparous females appear more sensitive to skeletal lesions (Kobayashi, 1978). The extent of interindividual variability is uncertain.

Pretoxic Indicator: Urine retinol binding protein (RBP) is a biomarker.

Long-term Effects: Nephropathy with tubular dysfunction results in proteinuria. There are conflicting reports regarding the production of hypertension in women. There is a significant correlation among cadmium levels in food, urine cadmium, and tubular dysfunction (Nogawa et al., 1978).

Kinetics: An eight-compartment model is used; the highest levels are found in kidney and liver (Kjellström and Nordberg, 1985).

ADI: The ADI is 57-72 µg/day; for a 70-kg individual, it is 0.0008-0.00103 mg/kg.

Toxic Body or Organ Burden: The toxic burden for kidney is 200-285 ppm.

Steady Daily Intake for Toxicity: A daily intake of 0.35 mg (0.005 mg/kg/day) at 50 years