Soils and Human Health

The first reference to focus on human health from a soils perspective, this book discusses human health as a product of soil health. Authors discuss how soils influence human health in a variety of ways, including the supply of nutrients, presence of toxic materials and pathogens, and other factors such as medicines and climate change. Chapters cover soil elements and human health, soil water, geophagy, organic pollutants in soil, medicinal uses of soils, pathogens in soil, , radioactive elements/issues in soil, soil degradation, soil-based public health recommendations, heavy metals in soil, food security, and climate change.

Despite the connections between soils and human health, there has not been a great amount of attention focused on this area when compared to many other fields of scientific and medical study. Soils and Human Health brings together authors from diverse fields with an interest in soils and human health, including soil science, geology, geography, biology, and anthropology to investigate this issue from a number of perspectives. The book includes a soil science primer chapter for readers from other fields, and discusses the ways the soil science community can contribute to improving our understanding of soils and human health.

• Discusses ways the soil science community can contribute to the improvement of soil health
• Approaches human health from a soils-focused perspective, covering the influence of soil conservation and contact with soil on human health
• Illustrates topics via case studies including arsenic in groundwater in Bangladesh; the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam; heavy metal contamination in Shipham, United Kingdom and Omaha, Nebraska, USA; and electronic waste recycling in China.

In a scientific world where the trend has often been ever-increasing specialization and increasingly difficult communication between fields and subfields, the interdisciplinary nature of soils and human health studies presents a significant challenge going forward. Fields with an interest in soils and human health need to have increased cross-disciplinary communication and cooperation. This book is a step in the direction of accessibility and innovation, elucidating the state of knowledge in the meeting of soil and health sciences, and identifying places where more work is needed.