Over forty years ago, concern was first focussed on cadmium
contamination of soils, fertilisers and the food chain. Adverse effects
on human health were first highlighted nearly 30 years ago in Japan with
the outbreak of Itai-itai disease. Since then, substantial research data
have accumulated for cadmium on chemistry in soils, additions to soils,
uptake by plants, adverse effects on the soil biota and transfer through
the food chain. However, this information has never been compiled into a
single volume. This was the stimulus for the Kevin G. Tiller Memorial
Symposium "Cadmium in Soils, Plants and the Food Chain", held at the
University of California, Berkeley, in June 1997 as part of the Fourth
International Conference on the Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements. This
symposium brought together leading scientists in the field of cadmium
behaviour in soils and plants, to review the scientific data in the
literature and highlight gaps in our current knowledge of the subject.
This series of review papers are presented here and deal with the
chemistry of cadmium in soils, the potential for transfer through the
food chain and management to minimise this problem. We hope this
information provides a sound scientific basis to assist development of
policies and regulations for controlling cadmium in the soil
environment.