Scientists have contributed detailed reviews covering a range of issues including aqueous cadmium chemistry, speciation of cadmium in soils, reactions of cadmium with soil surfaces, sources of cadmium contamination, uptake and translocation of cadmium in plants, and effects of cadmium on soil biological processes and on human health. This text should be useful for those involved in environmental research of cadmium behaviour in the terrestrial environment. It covers cadmium pollution of soil, and is particularly concerned with the food chain transfer of cadmium to humans.