Department of Urbanism, Universitat Politècnica de València, Camí de Vera s/n, E-46022, Valencia, Spain.
Research Institute of Water and Environmental Engineering (IIAMA), Universitat Politècnica de València, Camí de Vera s/n, E-46022, Valencia, Spain.
Environ Pollut. 2019 Jul;250:883-891. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.04.074. Epub 2019 Apr 20.
This article contains a brief overview of the European and Spanish environmental law framework for the prevention of soil contamination, for the management of contaminated soils and for consumers health protection in relation to agricultural crops. Some important aspects of the legislative framework for the prevention and management of soil contamination include recognising the possible risk to both human health and ecosystems that certain agricultural and industrial activities pose given the use of organic and inorganic chemical substances of a hazardous nature and pathogenic microorganisms. It is worth highlighting the milestone that many national constitutions include about the right to the environment. This right entails the obligation to protect it and to, therefore, protect soil from any degradation, including contamination. Legislation that protects soil from contamination and, consequently human health and ecosystems, is related mainly to agricultural activities (use of sewage sludge on farmlands, use of wastewater for irrigation, use of organic fertilisers and pesticides), and to industrial and commercial soil-contaminating activities. Consumer protection may be achieved through a legal system of environmental liability, specific measures to prevent contaminants entering soil, managing contaminated soils and a food traceability system. It is crucial to make the penalties for soil contamination offenses, and for violators of protective prohibitions, effective, proportionate and dissuasive. Global standards and guidelines on soil contamination could provide national legislative systems with substantive and procedural legal mechanisms to help prevent and manage soil contamination.
本文简要概述了欧洲和西班牙的环境法框架，以防止土壤污染、管理污染土壤以及保护与农业作物有关的消费者健康。预防和管理土壤污染的立法框架的一些重要方面包括承认某些农业和工业活动因使用具有危害性的有机和无机化学物质以及病原微生物而对人类健康和生态系统可能造成的风险。值得强调的是，许多国家宪法都包含了有关环境权的重要内容。这项权利要求有保护它的义务，因此，要保护土壤免受任何退化，包括污染。保护土壤免受污染、进而保护人类健康和生态系统的立法主要与农业活动（将污水污泥施用于农田、废水灌溉、使用有机肥料和农药）和工业及商业土壤污染活动有关。通过环境责任法律制度、防止污染物进入土壤的具体措施、管理污染土壤和食品可追溯性系统，可以实现对消费者的保护。对土壤污染犯罪和违反保护禁令的行为进行有效、相称和威慑性的处罚至关重要。关于土壤污染的全球标准和准则可以为国家立法系统提供实质性和程序性的法律机制，以帮助预防和管理土壤污染。
