Emphysema was the primary end
point in a study of 99 men, mostly
retired, who had worked for at least
1 year in a copper-cadmium alloy factory.5
Lung function evidence of excess
emphysema was associated with liver
cadmium levels as measured by neutron
activation analysis. Airborne levels of
exposure measured with static and
personal samplers during the relevant
periods of employment (1926–83) had
ranged between 600 and 34 mg/m3
. The
mean liver cadmium level was calculated
at 26.1 ppm, more than 40 times
that of ‘‘unexposed’’ controls with similar
smoking habits (0.6 ppm).