Global soil pollution by toxic metals threatens agriculture and human health

A - Papers appearing in refereed journals

Hou, D., Jia, X., Wang, L., McGrath, S. P., Zhu, Y., Hu, Q., Zhao, F., Bank, M. S., O’Connor, D. and Nriagu, J. 2025. Global soil pollution by toxic metals threatens agriculture and human health. Science. 388 (6744), pp. 316-321. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adr5214

AuthorsHou, D., Jia, X., Wang, L., McGrath, S. P., Zhu, Y., Hu, Q., Zhao, F., Bank, M. S., O’Connor, D. and Nriagu, J.
Abstract

Toxic metal pollution is ubiquitous in soils, yet its worldwide distribution is unknown. We analyzed a global database of soil pollution by arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, nickel, and lead at 796,084 sampling points from 1493 regional studies and used machine learning techniques to map areas with exceedance of agricultural and human health thresholds. We reveal a previously unrecognized high-risk, metal-enriched zone in low-latitude Eurasia, which is attributed to influential climatic, topographic, and anthropogenic conditions. This feature can be regarded as a signpost for the Anthropocene era. We show that 14 to 17% of cropland is affected by toxic metal pollution globally and estimate that between 0.9 and 1.4 billion people live in regions of heightened public health and ecological risks.

Year of Publication2025
JournalScience
Journal citation388 (6744), pp. 316-321
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adr5214
Open accessPublished as non-open access
FunderNational Natural Science Foundation of China
National Key Technologies R&D Program of China
Funder project or codeS2N - Soil to Nutrition [ISPG]
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online18 Apr 2025
Publication process dates
Accepted05 Mar 2025
PublisherAmerican Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
ISSN0036-8075

Permalink - https://repository.rothamsted.ac.uk/item/9938x/global-soil-pollution-by-toxic-metals-threatens-agriculture-and-human-health

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