ISKCON’s GBC and their apologists insist that the notion Srila Prabhupada was poisoned homicidally with cadmium is ludicrous for another two reasons:
(1). cadmium poisoning was unknown and undocumented in 1977,
(2). there are no known cadmium poisoning cases to date.
It is true that aside from those who develop cancer or kidney failure after many years of environmental or occupational exposure, quick death from cadmium poisoning is rare. Most human cadmium studies and case histories involved industrial-environmental exposure or long-term occupational, low-level chronic poisoning. The body of medical literature does show cadmium to be a rare poisoning agent. But because it is rather rare, does not mean it cannot happen.
Actually, using cadmium salts to poison someone is very feasible, and we have uncovered many examples. This list is not comprehensive nor complete. Cadmium is very poisonous and can kill very effectively and secretly. Muriatic acid leaches cadmium from nickel-cadmium batteries. And cadmium salts are readily available by mail order and chemistry labs.
By the 1940’s cadmium became fairly prolific in modern industrialized society and accidental cadmium poisoning occurred frequently, and it was soon understood as very poisonous. Cadmium poisoning studies began with Friberg/1950, Bonnell/1955, and cadmium’s causing critical, life-threatening kidney malfunction was well known by 1977. Most cadmium
poisoning studies focus on hazardous occupational or environmentally contaminated situations, such as, for example, factory pollution in southern Poland. It appears various government intelligence agencies such as the FSB, CIA, Mossad, etc. have taken to the use of rare poisons like cadmium. Below are 18 instances of non-environmental and homicidal cadmium poisoning cases. There are many more.
NON-ENVIRONMENTAL CADMIUM POISONING CASES
(1). Turgut Ozal, the President of Turkey (1989-1993), at 66 years old, died suddenly on Apr 17, 1993 at an Ankara hospital. A suspicious heart attack indicated an assassination plot by deliberate poisoning. Turgut Ozal’s remains were exhumed on Oct. 2, 2012. According to a leaked autopsy report, doctors found a high level of “strychnine creatine” -a powerful poison that
leads to respiratory arrest in 20 minutes and could cause a heart attack. For years his wife claimed he was poisoned. The autopsy report was given to the authorities but was destroyed, test results went missing, and an inquiry interrupted. The Kurdish separatists repeatedly stated Ozal was poisoned by the Turkish special services. Nov. 26, 2012 it was reported that an autopsy by pathologists of his exhumed remains revealed the presence of four poisons. The banned insecticide DDT was at 10 times the normal level. “Experts also detected the presence of cadmium, a chemical element, in his body. In addition, experts also found the radioactive elements americium, a transuranic radioactive chemical element, and polonium. According to the experts, his body was weakened with americium and polonium over a long period of time, and with the use of DDT [and cadmium], ingested in food or drink, his death was accelerated.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/report-body-former-turkish-leader-shows-signs-poisoning-flna1c7245150
(2). On Aug. 8, 1995, the funeral for a prominent Moscow businessman was attended by the Russian prime minister and noted dignitaries. Ivan Kivelidi and his secretary were secretly killed with cadmium smeared on a telephone and in their tea. Over 500 Mafia killings have taken place of local businessmen, many by poisoning. Aug. 8, 1995 the funerals for prominent Moscow businessman Ivan Kivelidi and his secretary were held. They were killed with cadmium smeared on a phone and in their tea.
https://www.nytimes.com/1995/08/09/world/moscow-journal-to-the-business-risks-in-russia-add-poisoning.html
(3). John Harris Trestrail III, of the Center for the Study of Criminal Poisoning, in his database of 900 poisonings worldwide, documented one case of murder by cadmium.
(4). Two youths aged 14 and 15 administered cadmium chloride mixed in an orange drink to eleven children. They suffered from sickness and blurred vision, but no one died. The younger boy intended to poison the children. The chemical was stolen from a UK Education Authority.
July 23, 1981: From Yorkshire Post
(5). John Creamer, 46, was arrested Dec. 19, 2002 in Tampa, Florida and indicted for first-degree murder in his wife’s death after Dr. Gore concluded that Jayne Creamer, 37, died Feb. 17,2002, from a lethal mix of cadmium, alcohol and Xanax. “Cadmium toxicity and the death resulting from that is extremely rare,” Gore said. “This is my first case. We are dealing here with a combination. So it’s not the pure cadmium, but I’ve given the cause of death as combination of cadmium, alcohol and Xanax. The combination would cause suppression of the respiratory center.” John Creamer came under suspicion because the couple had a history of domestic disputes and had been a suspect but was never charged in the 1988 beating death of Sherri Koons, his common-law wife. Searching his home, deputies found three containers of cadmium, including some in a bathroom medicine cabinet. Before her death, Jayne Creamer had told her sisters, hairdresser and others she feared her husband had been poisoning her. Detectives accused him of slipping cadmium into his wife’s drink during a romantic getaway, but charges later were reluctantly dropped.
https://www.tampabay.com/archive/2002/12/19/pinellas-man-held-in-wife-s-poisoning/
(6). In early 2019 a California chemical engineer, David Xu, 32, was charged with lacing a colleague’s water bottle with cadmium, which was not fatal. His act was caught on video
recording.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/04/03/months-she-kept-getting-sick-work-then-she-watched-surveillance-video-coworker-spiking-her-drink/
(7). Cadmium (7 X normal) is one of the toxic substances that Italian prosecutors detected in the blood of Imane Fadil after her death from organ failure in hospital. The 33-year-old Moroccan-born model had been a key witness in the “bunga bunga” sex party trial of former Italian PM Silvio Berlusconi. She died in hospital in Milan on March 1, 2019, and suspicions that she was poisoned are under investigation. She shared suspicions she had been poisoned after falling gravely ill in Jan. 2019. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-47667129
(8). Robert W Hall describes a postmortem laboratory analysis of the suboccipital proximal hair of Patrick H. Sherrill, who, on Aug. 20, 1986, committed mass murder, and then committed suicide. Akathisia, alcohol, and prior psychiatric history were eliminated as possible explanations of his behavior. The analysis, however, revealed significantly elevated levels of cadmium and lead. An underlying, immunotoxic biochemical pathology due to heavy metal poisoning may have affected inhibitory control mechanisms. (PsycINFO Database, 2012)
(9). Yukai Yang, a chemistry student at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania was charged for poisoning his roommate in Dec. 2018. He mixed thallium and cadmium in drinks, food, and mouthwash, and the victim still suffers ill effects.
https://nypost.com/2018/12/21/chemistry-student-accused-of-poisoning-his-roommate/
(10). In 2018 a 57-year-old man was arrested in the deaths of 21 coworkers at a valve manufacturing plant in Germany. The suspect “Klaus O.” was convicted in 2019, sentenced to life in prison for poisoning his colleagues by spiking their sandwiches with high levels of cadmium and mercury, caught on a surveillance camera. In a search of his home police discovered a makeshift laboratory where they found a number of heavy metals, including lead acetate, cadmium, lead, and mercury. Two of his colleagues suffered serious kidney damage. A third has brain damage and is currently in a vegetative state, unlikely to recover. One eventually died.
https://www.npr.org/2019/03/08/701617766/german-man-who-poisoned-coworkers-sentenced-to-life-in-prison
(11). Jan. 16, 2003: Three Pennsylvania family members were to be exhumed with suspicions of cadmium poisoning in 1995 and 1997. Ann Nagg’s body had already been exhumed in connection with the homicidal cadmium poisoning of a fourth person, Russell Repine.
https://www.deseret.com/2003/10/18/19790760/high-cadmium-levels-found-in-10-corpses/
(12). July 8, 2019: The son of Nigeria’s Muslim leader Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky warned about the deteriorating health of the 66-year-old cleric, who has been held in detention along with his wife for more than three years. He was shocked by his father’s worsening medical condition after visiting him, stressing that he needed to be immediately hospitalized as “large
and dangerous quantities of lead and cadmium have been found in his blood.” Islamic Human Rights Commission (UK) received reports Zakzaky’s health had worsened. IHRC sent a medical team to examine Zakzaky and wife and said the treatment required can only be accessed outside Nigeria. Islamic Movement in Nigeria also said he was poisoned in prison and required urgent medical care abroad.
https://kashmirreader.com/2021/02/04/the-incarceration-of-sheikh-ibrahim-el-zakzaky/
(13). Aslan Bzhania accused the leader of Abkhazia, Raul Khajimda, of poisoning him. He was hospitalized and found to have high levels of blood cadmium (May 17, 2019). Aslan Bzhania accused the leader of Abkhazia (on the Black Sea), Raul Khajimda, of poisoning him. He was the top challenger to incumbent Khajimda. Along with 2 security guards, he was hospitalized in Moscow. “According to the results of the analysis conducted in a Munich laboratory, heightened levels of mercury and aluminum were found in Bzhania’s blood, as well as a heightened level of benzodiazepines and cadmium.”
https://eurasianet.org/abkhazian-presidential-candidate-claims-he-was-poisoned
(14). Acute Cadmium Ingestion (Buckler Et Al 1986) “A woman (age 17) had ingested a massive dose of 150 gm of cadmium chloride…” She died soon thereafter.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1340559/pdf/bmjcred00238-0019.pdf
(15). Japanese singer and actress, Noriko Sakai, in 2009 was poisoned by her husband, who laced her food with cadmium and who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for attempted murder.
(16) Former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko died in 2006 after being poisoned with a dose of radioactive polonium-210 that was laced with cadmium.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10736700.2023.2229691
https://digitaledition.chicagotribune.com/tribune/article_popover.aspx?guid=afe4e535-7fe9-4dc6-86ca-f7831e321e64
https://www.bionity.com/en/encyclopedia/Alexander_Litvinenko_poisoning.html#google
(17). Dr. Aggarwal, an Indian toxicologist, reported that in Japan a patient died when he was given an injection of cadmium chloride instead of calcium bromide.
From his personal toxicology blog
(18). In a 1998 forensic scientific newsletter, Dr. Anil Aggrawal of India described a case wherein Sohan and Kanta, chemistry students, had a lover’s breakup. Kanta was poisoned in a drink with cadmium chloride that Sohan stole from the chemistry lab. “He probably chose this poison as this is such an unusual poison, and he thought he could get away with that. But he didn’t know that forensic science can catch even the most intelligent of criminals.”
From his personal toxicology blog
Eighteen cases of cadmium poisonings. Political assassinations worldwide appear to be using cadmium as one ingredient in a mixture with others (e.g., with arsenic and antimony, just as was done with Srila Prabhupada). Those who deny Srila Prabhupada’s poisoning even in the face of all the irrefutable conclusive evidence put forward various false theories and objections which are mostly dishonest maneuvers to avoid the truth, while some are emotional reactions. Some objections come from being misinformed, misled, or ignorant of the facts and evidence.
ACCIDENTAL CADMIUM POISONINGS
Accidental cadmium poisoning has occurred on a large scale in many instances, and this demonstrates further that it is a viable, effective homicidal poison.
1. In 1960’s Japan a large-scale factory contamination of soil and water resulted in “itai-itai”(ouch-ouch) disease with brittle bones, great pain, kidney failure. Residents along the Jinzu River also had osteomalacia due to disturbed phosphate reabsorption resulting from atrophy of the proximal tubules of the kidney. This came from the upstream Mitsui Mining’s industrial cadmium pollution in the river, used for drinking and rice field irrigation.
https://www.kanazawa-med.ac.jp/~pubhealt/cadmium2/itaiitai-e/itai01.html
2. A well-described instance of cadmium pollution-related disease was found in New Zealand. It has been discovered that unregulated aerial spraying with cadmium pesticides for decades has rendered large sections of agricultural land in New Zealand as having many times over the acceptable limits which will result in contaminated produce. Especially root crops such as turnips and potatoes absorb the cadmium from the soil. It was determined that NZ potatoes should only be eaten sparingly.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/00288233.1990.10428451
3. In 2001 it was reported that a de-forested area in Honduras had caused naturally cadmium-contaminated soil to run-off and spoil a local town’s water supplies. Over 400 were admitted to hospitals and 11 had died thus far with kidney failure symptoms.
https://www.oas.org/dsd/Quimicos/Central%20America%20Caribbean%20Report%20UNEP.pdf
4. Consumption of cadmium contaminated oysters in Tasmania led to nausea and vomiting in victims. https://nre.tas.gov.au/aquaculture/shellmap/biotoxins-and-chemical-testing
5. Fatalities have resulted from using oxy-gas flame to cut cadmium-plated objects, from grilling with cadmium-coated refrigerator racks, and from using high temperature flames with cadmium-bearing solder. Case History: Adult, Acute Cadmium Inhalation (Lucas et al., 1980) “A previously healthy 34 year-old welder worked for 30 minutes with an oxyacetylene torch and silver solder. He was in a large airy building, high ceiling, large open doors, but no ventilation system in operation. He become dyspnoeic with a persistent non-productive cough. His symptoms worsened and he died 5 days after exposure. Both lungs showed changes typical of acute pneumonitis. The source was the rod of silver solder with 20% cadmium. The case illustrates that death from cadmium fume inhalation can occur in an apparently well-ventilated environment, particularly if the presence of cadmium is not suspected.”
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK158834/
6. In 2016 there were news stories about cadmium plated or cadmium alloy costume jewelry responsible for illnesses all over the world. This cheap jewelry was tracked back to remote factories in China where the cost of manufacturing jewelry was lowered by use of cadmium due to its low melting point. Soldering fumes and dust caused much disease.
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/346167755_Buyer_beware_Inexpensive_high_cadmium_jewelry_can_pose_severe_health_risks
7. Another recent case of mass cadmium poisoning was found in a Sept. 18, 2012 BBC news article: “Sri Lanka Kidney Disease Blamed on Farm Chemicals,” wherein thousands of farmers developed serious health problems which a study pointed to the likely cause of chemical pesticides and fertilizers. 15% of the farmers in one province, mostly growing rice, were affected, and they suffered various stages of kidney failure. Some were on a dialysis program, some became weak and cannot work, although they do not have diabetes or high blood pressure which is commonly associated with kidney disease. The government and the UN’s WHO are investigating by testing blood, urine, tissue, and hair samples, and results suggested arsenic and cadmium had contaminated food, air, or water. Cadmium is found in some fertilizers and arsenic in some pesticides, most from China, notorious for dangerous chemicals. Countries in Central America are also noticing a similar “epidemic” of kidney disease problems amongst their farmers. Mysterious illnesses are not uncommon in a polluted world.
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-19628295
