Cadmium has a broad range of industrial applications in the modern world. Some of the uses include the following: manufacture of batteries, stabilizer for plastics, electroplating, and in the production of pigments. Cadmium exhibits several health effects. Some of the short-term health effects associated with the exposure to cadmium include the following: pulmonary and bronchial irritation and the impairment of the lung functions. On the other hand, the long-term health effects include the build-up of cadmium in the kidney that eventually causes kidney disease, impairment of the liver and the immune system, and effects of the lung such as bronchiolitis among other health effects.
Currently, there is no EPA-established reference concentration for cadmium. (United States Environmental Protection Agency, 2016, Chronic Effects (Noncancer), para. 6). However, the State of California, through the California Environmental Protection Agency (CalEPA), has set the cadmium chronic reference exposure level at 0.00001 mg/m3 (U SEPA, 2016, Chronic Effects (Noncancer), para. 7).
It is my view that efforts aimed at regulating cadmium in the United States should be improved owing to various reasons. First, cadmium is highly toxic to the body. Consequently, exposure to even small quantity can result in severe health consequences. Secondly, cadmium is likely to find its way into the environment. Once in the environment, they are ingested into the body where they cause severe health effects. Label requirements, one of the efforts intended to regulate cadmium is not adequate in safeguarding the public from high exposure to the chemical. Rather, additional measures such as the following would be more effective: substituting the chemical with a safer alternative (United States Department of Labour, n.d), setting safety standards that manufacturing firms must meet, and establishing mechanisms for safety disposal.
References
United States Department of Labour. (n.d.). Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Available at https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/cadmium/evaluation.html
United States Environmental Protection Agency. (2016). Cadmium Compounds. Available at https://www3.epa.gov/airtoxics/hlthef/cadmium.html
