# How much cadmium is in pastels

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cadmium-is-in-pastels/762517>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 12, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cadmium-is-in-pastels/762517 "2016-08-12T01:17:21Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cadmium-is-in-pastels/762517/1 "2016-08-12T01:17:21Z")

</div>

My wife (who has been using them a lot of late) just read about Cadmium poisoning from using dry pastels.

How concerned should we be. On the spectrum of toxic stuff from Plutonium, to homeopathic medicines, where do pastels actually lie? Googling produced lots of hits, a few anecdotal horror stories, but few actual facts. What concentration of Cadmium would a typical yellow pastel actually contain? (we have Dalbe brand pastels FWIW).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cadmium-is-in-pastels/762517/2 "2016-08-12T01:26:30Z")

</div>

These days they may contain none - “cadmium yellow” is a particular hue as well as a chemically-created color. If the art supplies are labeled “non-toxic” they probably contain no cadmium.

That said, it’s still possible to obtain pigments based on actual cadmium. Label reading is a good idea.

[Cadmium poisoning](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadmium_poisoning) is a Bad Thing, extremely painful. When dealing with cadmium compounds you don’t need huge amounts to produce toxic effects. There are applications where cadmium can be safely used, but azo pigments are generally safer (although not as light fast). You would need to do some research into the actual pigments used in a particular art supply.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cadmium-is-in-pastels/762517/3 "2016-08-12T13:13:01Z")

</div>

They should be replacing Cadmium with [Bismuth Vanadate](https://youtu.be/DQYoWAKJTFc).

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\
**Post date:** [August 12, 2016, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-much-cadmium-is-in-pastels/762517/4 "2016-08-12T13:14:54Z")

</div>

You know, it’s really annoying when someone links to a video I have to sit through until the talking head gets to the point. Do you have any information on that in bare-bones text form?