Global soil pollution by toxic metals threatens agriculture and human health

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.

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Publication Details

Journal
Science
Published
2025-04-17
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adr5214
Citations
498
Primary Topic
Heavy metals in environment
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
250.84
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article

Global soil pollution by toxic metals threatens agriculture and human health

David O’Connor, Jerome O. Nriagu, S. P. McGrath, Liuwei Wang et al.
498 citations
Science
Heavy metals in environment
250.84
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Global soil pollution by toxic metals threatens agriculture and human health

David O’Connor, Jerome O. Nriagu, S. P. McGrath, Liuwei Wang, Fang‐Jie Zhao, Deyi Hou, Michael S. Bank, Yong‐Guan Zhu, Qing Hu, Xiyue Jia
article en
498 citations

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.

ScienceVol. 388(6744)
Nanjing Agricultural University (CN), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), University of Massachusetts Amherst (US), University of Michigan (US), Rothamsted Research (GB), Norwegian Institute of Marine Research (NO), Southern University of Science and Technology (CN), Institute of Urban Environment (CN), Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences (CN), Royal Agricultural University (GB), Tsinghua University (CN)
Zero hunger
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Heavy metals in environment
250.84
DOISourceOpenAlex
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