Chronic Cadmium Poisoning Induced by Environmental Cadmium Pollution Renal Lesions (Multiple Proximal Tubular Dysfunctions) Identified in Residents of Cadmium-Polluted Hosogoe, Kosaka Town, Akita Prefecture, Japan

Abstract

Health examinations were performed in 137 people living in the cadmium-polluted community of Hosogoe, Kosaka town, Akita prefecture, Japan. Thirty-three of 137 residents had some indications of proximal tubular dysfunctions such as renal glycosuria, tubular proteinuria and generalized aminoaciduria, and 10 of them were diagnosed as having multiple proximal tubular dysfunctions. Detailed examinations revealed that none of these cases had any causal diseases other than chronic cadmium poisoning. The ages of the 33 cases ranged from 36 to 83 years, and all have lived in Hosogoe area for more than 28 years. The community of Hosogoe, with a leading Japanese copper refinery in operation since the 1870s, is surrounded with the farmland evidently polluted by cadmium primarily through the air. The mean concentration of cadmium in unpolished rice harvested in this area was found some ten times as high as that in the control area. The residents' mean cadmium intake and mean urinary cadmium concentration showed the values over 3 times as high as those in control. It is quite conceivable that the people of Hosogoe have had a high daily intake of cadmium for many years mainly via food. From these findings, renal lesions identified in the residents were diagnosed as chronic cadmium poisoning induced by the environmental cadmium pollution.