French citizens are exhibiting significantly higher levels of cadmium, a carcinogenic metal, in their bodies compared to other Europeans, largely due to contaminated food. Experts attribute this public health crisis to governmental inaction, problematic farming practices, and a historical dependence on certain phosphate fertilizers linked to its colonial past.

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.