This is neither a pesticide nor a so-called "forever chemical." Yet it has massively contaminated the French population, especially children, through their diet. The situation has become so serious that private practice doctors have sounded the alarm about what they call a "public health time bomb": cadmium. Less well-known than lead, mercury or arsenic, cadmium is a heavy metal classified as a proven human carcinogen. Present in phosphate fertilizers used in agriculture, it accumulates in soil and has contaminated some of the most widely consumed foods: breakfast cereals, bread, pasta and potatoes.

In a letter sent on Monday, June 2, to the prime minister and the ministers of health, agriculture and environment, the National Conference of Regional Unions of Private Practice Health Professionals (URPS-ML) expressed its "grave concern." "Exposure to cadmium is a public health time bomb," said Pascal Meyvaert, coordinator of the URPS-ML's health and environment working group. "This is a public health emergency; it is our duty to alert the authorities to protect citizens. The government can no longer ignore this public health scourge!"

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