France is facing mounting pressure over cadmium – a toxic heavy metal linked to cancer and found in everyday foods – as fresh health warnings, public anger and political action intensify around a long-running contamination crisis now heading for a parliamentary battle.
Health warnings over cadmium exposure in France have been mounting for years, but political action over the crisis has repeatedly stalled.
A citizens’ petition launched on 9 April urged the government to curb exposure to the toxic metal “without delay”, criticising what it called “unjustifiable political inertia” – as lawmakers prepare to examine a proposed crackdown on cadmium-heavy fertilisers on 14 May.
Pressure has intensified since Anses, France’s national health and food safety agency, warned in March that nearly half the population is exposed to cadmium above recommended safety levels.
The agency warned the level of exposure was worrying and said contamination affects all age groups, including very young children.
Classified as a proven carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer, cadmium is also linked to reproductive problems, neurological disorders and cardiovascular disease. The metal builds up in the body over time and is difficult to eliminate.
Children are especially vulnerable. More than a third have cadmium levels above acceptable daily thresholds, Anses said.
For most people, contamination comes mainly through food – including staples such as bread, pasta, biscuits, rice and potatoes. Smokers are also exposed through tobacco.
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From fertiliser to food
France’s high exposure is closely tied to its farming model.
The country is Europe’s biggest user of phosphate fertilisers, which have been spread on farmland for decades. These fertilisers contain cadmium, which builds up in soil, is absorbed by crops and enters the food chain.
Much of France’s phosphate supply comes from Morocco, home to some of the world’s largest phosphate reserves, including deposits with particularly high cadmium levels.
As a result, cadmium levels in France can be twice as high as in Italy and up to three times higher than in the United States. Santé Publique France, the public health agency, said average contamination nearly doubled between 2006 and 2016.
Since 2021, the agency has also suspected a link between cadmium exposure and the sharp rise in pancreatic cancer cases in France.
In June last year, a group of doctors wrote to the prime minister and the health, agriculture and ecological transition ministers, warning that cadmium exposure was a “health time bomb” and urging action.
European Union rules cap cadmium in phosphate fertilisers at 60 milligrams per kilogram, with a target of 20mg/kg by 2035.
France still allows up to 90mg/kg. Anses has urged since 2019 that France move to the stricter 20mg/kg threshold “as soon as possible”.
France’s agriculture ministry opened consultations in October 2023 on lowering the limit, but no decision has followed.
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Fear and deadlock
Several factors have slowed reform, according to journalist Martin Boudot, whose 2021 investigative documentary Vert de Rage: Engrais Maudits (“Green with Rage: Toxic Fertilisers”) examined cadmium contamination linked to phosphate fertilisers.
“There was very strong lobbying from the phosphate fertiliser industry,” Boudot told RFI.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine then added geopolitical complications. In 2022, the prospect of relying on lower-cadmium fertilisers, including some from Russia, was used as an argument for delaying tougher rules.
Fear of angering France’s farming sector also became a major stumbling block. “There is a real fear of a farming backlash,” Boudot added.
Daily newspaper Le Monde reported that the agriculture and ecological transition ministries asked expert bodies in the summer of 2025 to assess the economic impact of stricter rules.
A report initially expected by the end of 2025 was delayed because of “the scale and complexity of the analysis required”, the ecological transition ministry told the paper.
The case has also reached France’s highest administrative court, where lawyer and former environment minister Corinne Lepage has accused the state of culpable inaction.
RFI contacted the agriculture ministry for further details, but received no response.
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Parliamentary test
Greens MP and farmer Benoît Biteau tabled a bill in December that would ban the most cadmium-heavy fertilisers from 2027.
It narrowly passed committee in February, but has struggled for political space and was placed last on the agenda for the next cross-party parliamentary slot on 14 May.
“We have all the evidence, and yet we keep waiting,” Biteau told RFI, calling the resistance “incomprehensible”.
“There is no reason left to wait, because alternatives exist,” he said.
Those alternatives include farming methods that reduce reliance on phosphate fertilisers, lower-cadmium phosphate sources from countries such as Finland and Norway and technology that can remove cadmium from phosphate.
Morocco itself is already lowering cadmium levels in its phosphate. “Today they are already capable of getting below 40 milligrams, and they are aiming for 20 milligrams within a few years,” Biteau said.
The FNSEA, France’s biggest farming union, did not respond to RFI’s questions about cadmium contamination and lower fertiliser thresholds.
Its president, Arnaud Rousseau, said in a France Inter interview in early April that he could support stricter limits if affordable alternatives were available.
France’s fertiliser industry said that it has been “fully committed to reducing cadmium inputs for many years”, but warned that cadmium removal methods “remain complex and costly and cannot be the only answer”.
A report published in April by Green MP Catherine Hervieu warned that French environmental health policies remain too weak for what it called “colossal” public health challenges.
Biteau said he hopes the citizens’ petition will show parliamentary group leaders how strongly action is expected on cadmium.
Even if tougher decisions were taken immediately, it would still take years – possibly decades – for cadmium levels to fall in soil and in the food supply, Biteau added.
For now, France has agreed to reimburse cadmium screening tests, expanding detection while the broader fight continues over whether lawmakers will finally curb contamination at its source.
This story was adapted from the original version in French by Aurore Lartigue.
