A Review on the Effects of Cadmium Toxicity on Living Beings

Cadmium is a toxic transition heavy metal with perilous effects on the health of animals and humans by indefinite ways. It is one of the asserted carcinogens group given by IARC. There are jillion ways by which cadmium may be prevalent in the environment as the pollutant or may be through contaminated water, food or by smoking. Cadmium poisoning may be seen in the form of itai itai disease. It came in knowledge after its outbreak in Japan in 1960s after the consumption of cadmium-contaminated rice as a food source. The exposure and accumulation of cadmium may lead to numerous forms of cancer, including breast, lung, prostate and nasopharynx, pancreas and kidney cancers. It expresses its effect by formation of stress proteins that depends on the amount of exposure and time of exposure. It had shown effects on the functioning of mitochondria resulting in formation of less energy or ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and more ROS. Other effects are cell apoptosis and inhibit growth, division and carcinogenic activity in cells. The current study has been done to understand the various effects scrutinised by numerous workers.