Eighth Expert Opinion: Scientific Studies Scientific Literature On Cadmium Poisoning Lethality And Morbidity Cadmium poisoning is rare and deaths from it are also rare. Although many studies on cadmium have been done since the 1950’s, the precise relationship between dose and health effects is still being refined. The rarity of clinical cases of serious cadmium poisoning (chronic or acute) has largely restricted the scientific record to animal studies and neutral to mild cases of exposure in human society. Nevertheless, the body of scientific literature does provide ample knowledge of cadmium’s toxicity and does shed bright lights on the lethality/ morbidity of Srila Prabhupada’s high cadmium levels. (Our research was not updated much after 2005, but should be.) There is no doubt the high cadmium concentrations found in Srila Prabhupada’s hair was the primary factor in his sharp deterioration of health and his physical demise. A review of these scientific studies will help to properly understand the effects of Srila Prabhupada’s cadmium levels. Even though there was no single study which specifically describes the effects of up to 20 ppm cadmium in hair, still, the following items we found in the general body of scientific literature illustrates very clearly: That an average of 15.73 ppm cadmium over a minimum of at least 9 months, as Srila Prabhupada had endured, is an imminently life-threatening level.
(1). At hazardous waste sites, cadmium has reached up to 4 ppm in the soil. (This gives an idea of how little cadmium exists in the environment.) (2). OSHA characterizes: “Cadmium is extremely poisonous and toxic at extremely low levels, and thus tests may miss its detection… even amounts of cadmium dust in occupational situations previously thought safe are now shown to cause kidney disease.” Cadmium is now known to be much more poisonous than previously believed, and OSHA issued a much more
stringent restriction on cadmium allowances in the workplace.
(3). Even in areas of heavy industrial and environmental cadmium pollution, as in southern Poland, residents still only had roughly 1/70th the amounts that Srila Prabhupada had in his hair. (How can someone say that Prabhupada’s high cadmium is due to environmental or industrial pollution?) (4). A blood cadmium level above 7 millionths gram per liter indicates significant exposure.
(5). Cadmium and arsenic are comparable in toxicity, and normal hair values of both are a tiny fraction of one ppm. A hair level of 5 ppm arsenic can sometimes represent a fatal chronic poisoning. (Cadmium levels of 19.9 ppm are therefore extremely unusual.) (6). The village of Ergates in Cyprus lies downwind from a cadmium foundry, resulting in 150 to 300% the national average of brain, kidney, pancreas, lung, and leukemia cancers amongst the residents. The Cyprus government took strong action to force the foundry to correct its pollution of the area. Blood cadmium levels were 5 times the norm. (This would roughly correspond to 5 times the norm in hair cadmium as well. If Srila Prabhupada’s hair had 190-306 times the norm, then Srila Prabhupada would have been 40 to 64 times as ill as these unfortunate villagers.) (7). Kidney dysfunction is associated with 10 to 100 times normal cadmium concentrations in the liver and kidneys. Hair is an excellent indicator of internal cadmium concentrations. (Srila Prabhupada’s hair had up to 306 times normal amounts, and there can be no doubt that Srila Prabhupada’s kidney failure was thus due to cadmium poisoning.) (8). Average cadmium in US food is 0.002-0.040 ppm; in most drinking water it’s below 0.001 ppm.
(9). The EPA has reduced allowable cadmium in drinking water to a maximum of 0.05 ppmillion (50 ppb), and the FDA restricts cadmium in food coloring.
(10). A study in 2001 by T Osawa et al on the relation between cadmium in rice and kidney dysfunction found that the maximum allowable amount of cadmium in rice before adverse health effects became visible was 0.05-0.2 ppm. High cadmium in rice resulted in kidney dysfunction after a short time.
(11). Cadmium is largely unused as a malicious poison; yet it is an extremely toxic element, more so than mercury or arsenic. To grasp the meaning of Prabhupada’s 19.9 ppm cadmium in hair, we can look at what normal blood and urine cadmium values are: Blood = 0.0000003 gram/ liter; urine creatinine = 0.29 ppm.
SUMMARY: LETHALITY AND MORBIDITY Srila Prabhupada’s hair was up to 5 times as polluted with cadmium than the worst hazardous waste dump!
Even amounts of cadmium dust in occupational situations previously thought safe are now shown to cause kidney disease.
Srila Prabhupada had 40-70 times more cadmium than those exposed to serious pollution.
Srila Prabhupada’s cadmium levels were far above what would cause serious kidney disease and kidney failure within six to twelve month’s time.
Srila Prabhupada’s hair had 16,000 times more cadmium than in most of the world’s drinking water.
Srila Prabhupada’s hair had 400 times more cadmium than the maximum limit allowable in drinking water (by Environmental Protection Agency guidelines).
According to one website, the lethal dose of cadmium is 30-40 mg, but the “lethal” level of cadmium poisoning- the variables of body weight, age, health, gender, chronic vs. acute, and other factors will determine how quickly and whether or not someone will die from the poisoning or from the conditions and diseases caused or aggravated by the poisoning. Due to Srila Prabhupada’s age and health, a lethal dose of cadmium would be significantly less than the average 30-40 mg required for a nortmal healthy person.
“A few milligrams of cadmium or even less than a milligram of cadmium salt may be enough to produce fatal toxicity.” Michael Mullins, Clinical Chemistry (2011) pg 1488. ==========================
Ninth Expert Opinion: Scientific Studies (Scientific Literature On Cadmium Poisoning) PATHOLOGY & TOXICITY The following was obtained from various studies to provide a general overview of cadmium’s extreme and widespread destructiveness to the body, giving some idea of what it does, and how, to its unfortunate victims.
(1). Unlike other toxic heavy metals, ingested cadmium is primarily cumulative; since body excretion is so slow and limited to a maximum of about 2 micrograms per day regardless of the amount ingested, so ingested amounts greater than bodily excretion rates accumulate in the body until a fatal threshold is reached.
(2). Cadmium is so poisonous that as little as 10 milligrams of cadmium has caused severe toxic symptoms when ingested. (Rumack BH: Poisindex Information System) A lethal dose is about 0.5 grain or 30 to 40 milligrams cadmium, less than the 300 mg arsenic required, and is about the weight of a small postage stamp. This translates to 0.035 grams or 0.001235 of an ounce.
(3). Cadmium is a general metabolic poison and competes (replaces) with zinc, disrupting essential biological processes. Ingested cadmium is primarily deposited in the kidneys and liver, with a very limited amount being carried by the blood and excreted through the urine. Since the amount of cadmium deposited in the hair depends on the blood level of cadmium, hair cadmium is like the tip of the iceberg as to the actual total body burden.
(4). A 2000 study in Belgium by MK Viaene et al stated that “animal studies have shown that cadmium is a potent neurotoxicant.” (5). The target organ for cadmium toxicity via oral exposure is the kidney. Cadmium causes irreversible renal tubular damage, which progresses into complete Fanconi syndrome with decreased tubular reabsorption of proteins, glucose, amino acids, calcium, phosphorus, and with decreased ability to acidify and concentate the urine.
(6). Renal tubular dysfunction and proteinuria (in kidneys) results in overall physical deterioration. Rather than assimilate nutrients, minerals and protein, the kidneys allow them to pass out with the urine, including whatever stores are already in reserve. Leaching due to sufficient cadmium poisoning (protein and sugar is spilled in the urine) denies the victim any sustenance and slow death follows with the appearance of malnutrition, starvation, indigestion, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain, etc. (This was exactly Srila Prabhupada’s condition…see medical history)
(7). Cadmium poisoning is irreversible; there is no antidote or chelation therapy.
(8). Cadmium has no known beneficial effect on the human physiology and its cumulative toxic effect simply depends on the amounts ingested.
(9). Daily excretion of cadmium is about 0.01% of the total body burden; cadmium has a half-life in the body of 17 to 30+ years (it takes that long to excrete half of what is in the body).
(10). Normal cadmium concentrations in the adult kidney cortex is about 50 ppm and when it reaches 200 ppm a critical threshold is reached wherein the body no longer can manage it and disease then develops, including serious kidney dysfunction and failure. (Srila Prabhupada’s condition, exactly!) (11). Clinical evidence of the cumulative effects of cadmium may appear after exposure has terminated; the disease then tends to be progressive. Once sufficient cadmium has been chronically ingested, death will follow from disease progression.
(12). Long-term chronic cadmium poisoning results in various bone diseases, and prostate and lung cancer are also suspected. The liver and cardio-vasculatory system are also adversely affected by cadmium.
(13). Cadmium intake is distributed widely in the body but accumulates particularly in the liver and kidneys. It binds to protein and non-protein sulfhydryl groups and various macro-molecules such as metallothionen, effecting especially the liver and kidneys.
(14). Because the toxic effects of cadmium are a function of a critical concentration being attained in the kidneys, similar effects will occur following long-term poisoning at low levels and short-term poisoning at high levels. Kidney and liver toxicity can occur with toxic cadmium levels accumulated even by sub-chronic exposure. (which is why it was not recognized by so many “short-term” doctors) (15). Breathing difficulties and emphysema develop in more extended exposures, up to 10 years later at low-level chronic levels. (in the months before Srila Prabhupada’s departure, some doctors were focused on his lungs, and this is consistent with cadmium poisoning symptoms.) (16). The IARC regards cadmium as cancer-causing. A study found that cadmium causes chromosomal aberrations in the blood lymphocytes and lesions in the central nervous system, liver, and kidneys, and causes eosinophilia, a blood disorder.
(17). Cadmium is one of the most dangerous environmental nephrotoxic agents and causes loss of hearing and eyesight, and alters calcium metabolism, causing kidney stones and pain, decreased density and weakness in bones. Arsenic, lead, mercury, cadmium, and antimony are naturally occurring toxic heavy metals which interfere with the function of some of the basic chemical processes that sustain life. Present in only trace amounts in the environment.
CONCLUSION Srila Prabhupada’s level of an average 15.73 ppm cadmium in his hair, sustained over a minimum of at least 9 months, and likely longer, constitutes a lethal amount, especially for Srila Prabhupada who was elderly and already had some existing health problems with heart, kidneys, and diabetes. This is the clear verdict of the scientific literatures.
Altogether we have quoted nine expert opinions that all confirm the lethality of Srila Prabhupada’s cadmium hair levels as found in three different hair tests and samples by one of the world’s foremost neutron activation analysis laboratories. That others who are separate from
the Truth Commission would find additional expert opinions on these levels of cadmium as found in Srila Prabhupada’s authenticated hair samples would be a very good development.
The Truth Committee was soliciting further expert opinions in 2017, through attorneys who work with toxicology experts in his legal profession in Florida.
SUMMARY: LETHALITY AND MORBIDITY Srila Prabhupada’s hair was up to 5 times as polluted with cadmium than the worst hazardous waste dump!
Even amounts of cadmium dust in occupational situations previously thought safe are now shown to cause kidney disease.
Srila Prabhupada had 40-70 times more cadmium than those exposed to serious pollution.
Srila Prabhupada’s cadmium levels were far above what would cause serious kidney disease and kidney failure within six to twelve month’s time.
Srila Prabhupada’s hair had 16,000 times more cadmium than in most of the world’s drinking water.
Srila Prabhupada’s hair had 400 times more cadmium than the maximum limit allowable in drinking water (by Environmental Protection Agency guidelines).
According to one website, the lethal dose of cadmium is 30-40 mg, but the “lethal” level of cadmium poisoning- the variables of body weight, age, health, gender, chronic vs. acute, and other factors will determine how quickly and whether or not someone will die from the poisoning or from the conditions and diseases caused or aggravated by the poisoning. Due to Srila Prabhupada’s age and health, a lethal dose of cadmium would be significantly less than the average 30-40 mg required for a nortmal healthy person.
“A few milligrams of cadmium or even less than a milligram of cadmium salt may be enough to produce fatal toxicity.” Michael Mullins, Clinical Chemistry (2011) pg 1488.