Which statement describes the relative importance of sources of cadmium exposure in the general population?

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Cadmium exposure in the general population is dominated by tobacco use because cigarette smoke contains cadmium and is inhaled directly into the lungs, where it is readily absorbed into the bloodstream. This delivers a relatively high amount of cadmium per exposure event compared with what is ingested from food or water, and over time it raises the body's overall cadmium burden significantly. While food and water contribute to background exposure, they usually do not reach the level seen from smoking for most people. The idea that exposure is uniform across all sources isn’t accurate, since some routes deliver far more cadmium than others. And living near a factory might raise local exposure, but it doesn’t override the fact that tobacco use is the largest single source for the general population.