Question 16771 — health

Summary

Ms. Gabrielle Cathala questions the Minister of Health, Families, Autonomy and Disabled People about the proven toxic effects on human health caused by cadmium, particularly in the increase in cancers in France. This toxic metal, classified as a certain carcinogen since 1993, is still used despite the fact that it constitutes a significant threat to the human body, even at low doses, and that it causes bone demineralization, increases the risk of osteoporosis and promotes the risk of cancer. Cadmium was detected in 89% of foods studied such as chocolate, breakfast cereals, bread, pasta and even potatoes according to the National Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health Safety (ANSES) which analyzed 718 food samples in its EAT 3 study published in February 2026. These foods therefore represent the majority of products with the highest concentration of cadmium. 47% of the French population and 100% of children aged 2 to 3 are exposed to cadmium levels exceeding the critical threshold. And since 2021, Public Health France has warned of the link with the explosion in the number of pancreatic cancers in France. Consequently, many French people are exposed to a high risk of cancer. ANSES has confirmed that the rate of cadmium impregnation of the French population was one of the highest in Europe: 2.2 times more than in Italy and 4.8 times more than in Denmark, for example. 400,000 tonnes of cadmium are used each year, but according to ANSES, it should “not exceed more than 2 grams per hectare”. To achieve this, the content of phosphate fertilizers should be limited to 20 milligrams of cadmium per kilo. If tomorrow fertilizers phosphates no longer contained any trace of cadmium, soil contamination by this metal would only decrease by around 7% in a century, according to INRAE ​​(National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment). It is therefore urgent to act now by banning cadmium in fertilizers in the hope of reducing its consequences on human health. On Wednesday June 3, the National Assembly adopted a text aimed at “reducing the health risks linked to contamination” with cadmium. This is a first step. The MP believes that it is necessary to go further by implementing measures aimed at better regulating the sources of exposure in the long term recommended by ANSES. Such as, for example, varying supply sources by alternating foodstuffs from different areas or sectors to avoid exposure. repeated cadmium testing, analytical control of cadmium to ensure compliance with regulatory requirements and product safety, or the immediate application of limit values ​​for cadmium intended for fertilizing materials. This is why she questions him about the emergency measures planned to implement the priority action levers identified by ANSES in order to combat cadmium contamination. She him asks more broadly what it intends to do to protect French people from the effects of cadmium on their health. Finally, she asks him if the Government intends to ban the production, import, sale and use of cadmium in French agriculture.

Machine translation from French. The official text remains authoritative.

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