The Nation - News from July 3, 1987

While acknowledging that cadmium can cause serious kidney damage, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has denied a request to issue an emergency order reducing workers’ exposure to the metal. In a letter to the Public Citizen Health Group, Assistant Labor Department Secretary John Pendergrass said the “currently available data are not sufficiently definitive in certain critical areas” to require emergency action. But he said the agency plans to begin tightening the exposure standards for workers exposed to cadmium fumes and dust.