This summer, I moved to a neighborhood complex surrounded by farms. After my family and I tried to grow food in our backyard, I noticed that the soil quality was pretty terrible, because we could only grow a couple sickly-looking plants. By coincidence, one of my good teachers also sent me an article on China?s land pollution: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/chinas_dirty_pollution_secret_the_boom_poisoned_its_soil_and_crops/2782/ 

The article is part of a series on China?s land pollution state secret. In this article, I?ll summarize what I?ve learned about the issue, but I encourage you to investigate the issue yourself as well.

According to ChinaDialouge (https://www.chinadialogue.net/article/show/single/en/4726-Building-on-toxic-land-)

polluted land sites in China have led to a number of severe poising incidents since the mid-1990s. As the rate of land development is accelerating, these accidents are becoming more widespread.

An additional infographic on China?s soil pollution I found interesting: https://www.chinadialogue.net/blog/7195-Infographic-Soil-pollution-in-China/en 

The four main types of pollutants in contaminated land are heavy metals, electronic waste, petrochemical organic pollutants and persistent organic pollutants. Land can remain toxic for nearly a century. Once in the soil, the petrochemical and persistent organic pollutants can enter the human body through diet, environmental exposure, or other paths. Read more about persistent organic pollutants here: http://www2.epa.gov/international-cooperation/persistent-organic-pollutants-global-issue-global-response

Some pollutants, including poly-aromatic hydrocarbons, are carcinogens. The pollutants can leach into the ground water and affect the wider population through the groundwater. According to a report from the Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, many kinds of hydrocarbons present in the soil are relatively strong carcinogens and mutagens.

            Polluted soil can influence public health directly and indirectly. When children breath in the contaminated soil participles while they are playing on the toxic land, the pollutants directly enter their bodies. The pollution in the soil can also contaminate groundwater, surface water, and the atmosphere, and indirectly affect our health when we interact with our environment.

            Right now, China still has a lot of room to improve in its regulation of soil pollution and soil remediation. Europe and North America started soil remediation programs in in the 1980, but China has only in the last five years in a small number of cities. Further cleanup still presents a challenge.

Read more about the challenges of cleanup and possible solutions here: http://e360.yale.edu/feature/the_soil_pollution_crisis_in_china_a_cleanup_presents_daunting_challenge/2786/

If you have any questions or comments, please leave them below!

Thank you for reading,

Jane