Cadmium is not found in pure form in nature instead it is found in the form of chemical combinations with zinc, copper or lead. Cadmium is not an ordinary metal, it is found in the list of transition metals in periodic table. It can be extracted as a waste material while processing zinc. It is soluble in acids, but insoluble in water however Cd chloride is soluble in water.
Cadmium is a toxic heavy metal and its exposure to people could lead serious health problems like kidney and bone diseases. As it is found in combination with other elements so fertilizers which are made from phosphate rocks naturally contains cadmium which can accumulate into the soil. Now a days fertilizers in Europe contain 32mg of cadmium per kg. We human can exposed to cadmium by ingesting the crops that have taken up the metal from the soil.
Smokers have higher chances of getting exposed to cadmium as smoke also contains cadmium. Cadmium does not affect our health if we are exposed to amount of cadmium less than no-effect threshold above than threshold there could be adverse affects of cadmium on our body. There is a need to limit cadmium in fertilizer otherwise the we will get exposed to higher percentage of cadmium in coming decades.