Global soil pollution by toxic metals threatens agriculture and human health

Hou, Deyi, Jia, Xiyue, Wang, Liuwei, McGrath, Steve, Zhu, Yongguan, Hu, Qing, Zhao, Fangjie, Bank, Michael, O'Connor, David and Nriagu, Jerome (2025) Global soil pollution by toxic metals threatens agriculture and human health. Science, 388 (6744). pp. 316-321. ISSN 1095-9203

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Abstract

Toxic metal pollution is ubiquitous in soils, yet its worldwide distribution is unknown. Here we analyze 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

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science in Vol 388, Iss 6744, 17th April 2025, DOI: 10.1126/science.adr5214
Keywords:	Soil pollution, Toxic metals, Agriculture, Human health, Machine learning
Divisions:	Land and Property Management
Depositing User:	Dr David O'Connor
Date Deposited:	01 Jul 2025 09:54
Last Modified:	17 Jul 2025 09:48
URI:	https://rau.repository.guildhe.ac.uk/id/eprint/16965

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