School of Occupational and Public Health, Toronto Metropolitan University, DCC 318, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON, M5B 2K3, Canada.
Department of Physical and Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Environ Monit Assess. 2024 Nov 25;196(12):1245. doi: 10.1007/s10661-024-13424-1.
Globally, soil contamination threatens ecosystems and food security. This study examines the contamination of soils intended for agri-food initiatives by Indigenous communities across New South Wales and Queensland, Australia, and Newfoundland and subarctic Ontario, Canada. Soils from 47 sites were tested for metals, metalloids, organochlorine (OC) pesticides, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) to assess ecological risks and compare against national guidelines. Australian soils were primarily contaminated with lead (Pb) and to a lesser extent with other metals and metalloids, whereas subarctic Ontario soils were heavily contaminated with OC pesticides, and to a lesser extent metals and metalloids. Newfoundland soils contained arsenic (As) concentrations exceeding agricultural soil guidelines with limited OC levels. The contaminants from these sites stem from both anthropogenic activities and natural geological sources; however, their precise origins-whether from the historical use of banned substances or mineral extraction-are not fully elucidated for all sites. This article specifically highlights the need to assess soil to be used in agri-food initiatives for contaminants in rural and remote landscapes in Indigenous homelands worldwide and, in general, for all soil to be used in any agri-food initiative.
全球范围内，土壤污染威胁着生态系统和粮食安全。本研究调查了澳大利亚新南威尔士州和昆士兰州以及加拿大纽芬兰和亚北极安大略省的原住民社区的农业食品计划中土壤的污染情况。对来自 47 个地点的土壤进行了金属、类金属、有机氯（OC）农药和多氯联苯（PCB）的测试，以评估生态风险，并与国家指南进行比较。澳大利亚的土壤主要受到铅（Pb）的污染，其次是其他金属和类金属，而安大略省的亚北极土壤则受到 OC 农药的严重污染，其次是金属和类金属。纽芬兰的土壤砷（As）浓度超过了农业土壤指南的限量，而 OC 含量有限。这些地点的污染物来自人为活动和自然地质来源；然而，对于所有地点，其确切来源——是来自历史上使用的禁用物质还是矿物开采——并没有完全阐明。本文特别强调需要评估在全球原住民家园的农村和偏远地区的农业食品计划中使用的土壤中的污染物，以及一般来说，需要评估所有用于任何农业食品计划的土壤中的污染物。
