Abstract
The extraction AAS procedure used for the determination of lead in biological and related material has been adapted with only a minor modification to the determination of cadmium in body tissues and in fluids, water, foods, and airborne dusts. The modification involved an adjustment of volume to decrease the concentration effect, noted when a relatively large volume of distilled water was used to bring the MIBK layer into the neck of the volumetric flasks. A sensitivity of 0.010 ppm can be attained, and accuracies of analysis range from ±10% for fractions of a microgram of cadmium to about ±4% for microgram quantities of cadmium. Because of the known association of cadmium with some lead ores, one hundred samples of blood from workers in various lead industries were analyzed. No relationship between the concentrations of lead and cadmium was found. Further, after deletion of ten obviously aberrant results, a mean concentration of 0.2 μg of cadmium per 100 ml of blood was obtained for the remaining ninety subjects in the industrial population studied.