A procedure has been developed for the direct determination of cadmium in whole blood by furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy. No ashing procedures are necessary thus avoiding positive errors caused by contamination in wet ashing or negative errors caused by volatilization of the cadmium during dry ashing techniques. The whole blood samples are immobilized on a pretreated small filter paper disk which is then dropped into a carbon bed atomizer, heated with an RF coil. Decomposition and atomization take place in the carbon bed and the combustion products are drawn into the optical light path for absorption measurements. In contrast to commercial furnace atomizers, there is no atomization program which thereby avoids loss of cadmium by volatilization and greatly reduces the background and chemical interference effects due to the highly variable matrix of blood. Typical results are reported.