Although cadmium is a rare metal which is not very abondant, it is present nearly everywhere in the environment. Pollution of soils can have different origins : waste material form galvanized plastic workshops, smelters or accumulator battery factories : use of impure phosphate or superphosphate as fertilizer; agricultural use of sewage sludge; sedimentation which precipitates particles of cadmium present in the atmosphere; Concentration of cadmium in the soil is generally between 0,1 and 0,2 ppm. Cadmium is easily absorbed by plants and accumulates without a threshold level. The quantity taken up by the plant is influenced by the type of soil (pH content), the kind of plant studied, their different parts and other elements. Food of vegetal origin has values which vary between 5 and 100 ppb. In man, cadmium is generally of nutritional origin. Gastrointestinal absorption is estimated to be between 5 and 10% in the adult. In the organism, cadmium combines selectively with metallothionein which is synthesized by the liver where a large part of the accumulation takes place before being transported towards the kidney where it is localized in the cortes. Biological half life is about 17 years. According to different authors, pulmonary absorption varies between 40 and 50%. Daily intake of cadmium is estimated to be 10 to 50 microg from food and that coming from tobacco of about 0,7 microg for every 10 cigarettes smoked. Cadmium found in blood of heavy smokers is about 2 microg litre, double of that of non-smokers. A kidney accumulation of 200 ppm is a critical level for people living in contaminated areas. At this level, problems arise, characterised by protein and glyco-urine content, an increased excretion of urine enzymes and a phosphocalcium loss leads to pathological bone diseases ITAI-ITAI in Japan and OUCH-OUCH in America. Industrial survey has equally shown an increased risk of cancer of the prostate and of the lungs. However research has not been able to establish a clear link between cadmium, and in particular, that absorbed by smokers, and death from heart disease. Despite a lack of clear evidence of cadmium related risk, SEITA and ADRTE (Association pour le Développement de la Recherche en Toxicologie Expérimentale) have carried out many experiments with an aim of studying the influence of the cultivation medium on the absorption of this element by the plant. These experiments confirm the ease with which tobacco absorbs the metal and transports it into its leaves. The experiments also show the importance of two controlling factors : the reaction of the soil and the kind of nitrogen nutrition which allow the reduction of cadmium content in raw tobacco. The acidity of the soil which renders the metal more soluble permits an easier absorption. In the soils where tobacco is cultivated, which are generally acid (pH 5,5 to 6,5), the addition of moderate amounts of calcium carbonate, which can be carried out over two seasons of production, permits by raising the pH by 1 unit, a 50% reduction in cadmium content of leaves. Experiments in pots show that nutrition with ammonium salts which results in a physiological acidification of the rhizosphere, increases in a spectacular fashion the absorption of cadmium. Ammonium sulphate has a particulary clear effect. Thus, in acid soils tobacco cadmium content can be greatly reduced by adding calcium carbonate and totally removing ammonium sulphate and preferably using the nitric form for nitrogen fertilization. These technics already partly recommended for tobacco production in France can be further developed with the aim of harvesting tobacco poor in cadmium.