The local residents consumed cadmium rice for a long period. The symptoms of cadmium poisoning are that it readily replaces calcium in the body, creating a calcium deficiency, with dramatic pain in the skeletal structure.
當地居民長期食用鎘米，鎘的病症是易取代人體裡鈣的地位，造成鈣流失、骨骼劇痛的「痛痛病」。