00:00Here in France, a recent report by the National Food Security Agency sounded the alarm over the amount of toxic
00:05heavy metals in French food,
00:07warning that the French were overexposed to cadmium every time they sat down to eat.
00:12Cadmium occurs naturally in the earth's crust, but the report said it was now at worrying levels in pasta, rice,
00:18wheat and more.
00:19Solange Mouton looks at why it is.
00:23The joy of a croissant, a baguette, cereal or potatoes, food that tastes good, provides energy, but may also be
00:31toxic and cancerous, and particularly in France.
00:34The culprit, cadmium.
00:37Anne says the French Agency for Food Safety has issued a plea to lawmakers to act as soon as possible
00:42and lower the levels of cadmium in all sorts of food produced in France.
00:47The report found that not only have levels nearly doubled in the past decade,
00:51but over 47% of the population has in their bodies cadmium levels above the critical threshold.
00:58It's two to three times higher in France than other EU nations and North America.
01:03The report also found that among non-smokers, nearly all of that cadmium, or 98%, comes from food and of
01:11all sorts.
01:12So why does France in particular have a cadmium problem, and how is it getting into the nation's food?
01:18One of France's main suppliers of phosphate, which is used in pesticides and fertilizers, is Morocco.
01:24And in Moroccan phosphate, there is a particularly high level of cadmium.
01:28In other nations like Norway and Finland, their phosphate has lower quantities of cadmium.
01:34For some 15 years, alarm bells have been ringing about this heavy metal.
01:39It is classified as cancerous at the highest level.
01:42In 2019, ANSES called for France's safety threshold to be lower to that of other EU nations.
01:48In June 2025, doctors said France was facing a looming health bomb,
01:53with a potential spike in pancreatic, liver, lung, prostate and breast cancers.
01:57A concern reconfirmed by the latest report.
02:00If the current levels of exposure remain the same and no action is taken,
02:05harmful effects are likely for an increasingly large portion of the population.
02:10The authority recommends cutting back on wheat, which can have high levels.
02:14They say that without greater regulation, foods like cereal, cookies, crackers, pasta and potatoes
02:19will continue to be poisoned by cadmium-heavy pesticides.
02:24Well, said to be harmful, even at low concentrations,
02:27cadmium, like other heavy metals, does not break down, and so in the body accumulates over time.
02:32On further reading, however, it would appear it's not the only toxic heavy metal we are ingesting,
02:37more or less worldwide.
02:39Reports show that some 17% of the world's croplands have been contaminated.
02:43Arsenic, lead and mercury, other examples.
02:45So what exactly could they do to us, and how can we avoid them or improve our diet?
02:50Well, to give us more insight, we're joined by Dr. Jagand Nasa Biswakarma.
02:54Thanks so much for your time.
02:56Environmental scientists studying all that for us.
02:59Can I start by asking you, these heavy metals, we're apparently eating them at increasing levels.
03:03I mean, how worried should we be?
03:09Cadmium particularly is a toxic heavy metal that occurs naturally, as you said, correctly in our Earth's planet.
03:16And they are dangerous.
03:17Heavy metal, metalloids like cadmium, arsenic, lead, mercury, they are dangerous to our human health
03:23because it can accumulate in our body.
03:26It can create damages to kidneys.
03:29It can also impact our skeleton.
03:33We may be more prone to fractures.
03:36And many of these heavy metals and metalloids are also linked to cancers.
03:41Like, for example, by smoking, we inhale a lot of toxic pollutants,
03:47and cadmium particularly can cause, for example, lung cancer.
03:51So they are toxic and dangerous, but the amount at which we are uptaking these heavy metals and metalloids
03:58is alarming at the moment.
04:01And why?
04:02Given that they were always in our environment, is it simply down to pesticides,
04:05or is it something else that's going on, that it's more and more in our foods?
04:10You're right.
04:11They are ubiquitous.
04:13They are naturally present.
04:14But because of human activities, we are creating an ecosystem and environment
04:20which activates their release to the soil, to the water, to the irrigated water.
04:27For example, mining, metal smelting, a lot of battery production,
04:32they use a lot of heavy metals and metalloids.
04:36And their exposure to the environment is readily accelerated by human activities.
04:44And that leads to accumulation by plants.
04:47Like, for example, plants can easily uptake these heavy metals and metalloids through soil.
04:52So food, the crop plant, as you mentioned correctly,
04:5817% of those across the globe are contaminated with heavy metals and metalloids right now.
05:03So when they list, when the report came out here in France,
05:07they listed the food that we should ultimately try and avoid.
05:10But, I mean, it was so vast.
05:12It was pasta, potatoes, spinach.
05:14And then you hear, well, that's for cadmium, but there's arsenic in rice.
05:18I mean, what can we safely eat?
05:22This is a very scary question.
05:23But we have science, have solutions.
05:26And we are, as scientists, we are proactively negotiating with policymakers
05:32that we should have stricter policy regulations in the front of environment and water
05:37because the presence of any kind of heavy metals and metalloids in food
05:41depends mainly on the soil contamination, mainly on the soil and water quality.
05:47So the things that we are putting into the soil and underneath the water,
05:52for example, fertilizers, there has to be strict rules and regulation.
05:56In EU, we have, in 2016, fertilizers regulation number 2003 was revamped and was revised.
06:05But I think we need to create an ecosystem policy which is more strict and more dose efficient.
06:12So we need to better understand the toxicity level of the cadmiums in our body.
06:18And we must adhere to those numbers when we formulate policies.
06:22But that feels like to stop matters getting worse.
06:26But is there anything we can do to nearly clean the soil or improve the situation as it is?
06:33Yeah, soil remediation can be done for sure.
06:36So like if government and or NGOs coming up with plans that can remediate soil contamination
06:45issues, that will be highly helpful.
06:47But we need to think long term because soil retain memories.
06:54It can and we need to also have a proper monitoring system because not every soil within France behaves a
07:03similar way.
07:04So it's not a one shoe fit all solutions.
07:06But we need to have a, so we have, we do have solutions now that how the science can translate
07:14into policy to practice is a bit of a challenge here.
07:18And that's the challenge we need to convert into opportunities to mitigate this harmful impacts
07:24of heavy metals and metalloids.
07:26And given that they're in our soil, I mean, it doesn't make any difference whether we try
07:30and eat organic or not when it comes to these heavy metals.
07:34Unfortunately, not both conventional and organic organically produced food can contain any kind
07:42of heavy metals or metalloids.
07:43So, of course, organic farming has many benefits, but it doesn't automatically guarantee a lower
07:51cadmium or any kind of metals or metalloids issue.
07:54OK, well, I have to say it still sounds quite alarming on the global front, but I'm glad to hear
07:58that some solutions potentially exist.
08:01Dr. Jagannatha Abhiswa-Karma, thanks so much for your time in bringing us your insight here
08:04on France 24.
08:05Very much appreciated.
Comments