The fates of essential elements, including iron, manganese, calcium and magnesium, were examined after oral administration of cadmium chloride (80mg/kg/day) alone and cadmium chloride (80mg/kg/day) with L-cysteine (1, 500mg/kg/day) in rats for 20 consecutive weeks.Iron levels in the liver and kidney were greatly decreased below the control values in the 4th week of repeated oral administration of cadmium, but the decrease was suppressed by the simultaneous administration of L-cysteine with cadmium. Urinary excretion of iron remained almost unchanged during the repeated oral administration of cadmium. Iron levels in organs did not decrease much after subcutaneous administration of cadmium. Therefore, the decrease of iron levels was considered to have been induced by the inhibition of intestinal iron absorption by cadmium. Moreover, development of iron deficiency anemia was observed as the iron levels in organs and blood decreased.Calcium levels in organs did not change greatly, indicating that the inhibition of intestinal calcium absorption by cadmium was far less than in the case of iron absorption. The levels of manganese and magnesium in organs and urine remained close to the control values suggesting that oral administration of cadmium had no effect on them.