‘Public health time bomb’: How France allowed cadmium to poison its crops and soil

French residents are three to four times more likely to register unsafe levels of cadmium in their bodies than their European counterparts, ingesting dangerous amounts of the carcinogenic metal through the food they eat. Experts blame government inaction, farming practices and a historic reliance on North African phosphate-based fertilisers that is rooted in the colonial era.

By Benjamin DODMAN