When we say, “soil,” most people imagine a pile of dirt on the roadside. But soil is not dirt. Soil is life. The very body we carry is soil that, over centuries of evolution, learned to sit up and speak. Every grain of rice, every fruit, every vegetable—each is soil taking another form. And one day, when our role is done, we return to the same soil. The question is not whether we are connected to soil but whether we are conscious of it.
From a toxicological perspective, we are trained to look for invisible agents that can harm life. We measure doses, exposures, and risk. Yet, the greatest toxicology laboratory is not inside four walls but beneath our feet. Soil is a sophisticated biogeochemical factory, hosting reactions that govern the fate of nutrients, water, and contaminants. Still, we often treat it as lifeless dust.
Over the last half-century, soil organic matter (SOM)—the living sponge and carbon backbone of fertile soils—has declined in many regions due to intensive tillage, monocultures, and erosion. Global assessments estimate substantial losses of soil organic carbon from croplands and rangelands, with attendant reductions in soil structure, nutrient buffering, and water retention, and increased mobility/bioavailability of certain toxicants such as cadmium and lead. These are not abstract trends but measured trajectories with public health consequences.
Some may say, “I’ll just filter water or buy organic.” That is like saying, “I’ll keep smoking but carry an inhaler.” It may postpone damage; it does not restore function. Once soil vitality is lost, rebuilding SOM takes years to decades, and there’s no quick fix or overnight technology.
As toxicologists, we recognize that hazard meets harm through exposure. A trace of arsenic, cadmium, or lead on a single day may not kill; a trace woven daily into staples can shorten life, impair neurodevelopment, and tax health systems. When soil health collapses and toxicants slip silently into crops and groundwater, the real costs arrive later in clinics and classrooms.
This is not about blame; it is about responsibility. Neglect of soil echoes for generations. If we want healthier populations, we cannot treat soil as separate from public health.
Action is possible. Building SOM by even a few percentage points through cover crops, reduced tillage, composts, and agroforestry improves aggregation, increases cation-exchange capacity, immobilizes certain metals, buffers pesticides, and enhances water storage, reducing both drought stress and runoff. Fewer inputs, safer food, and more resilient landscapes follow. This is not philosophy but sound soil science.
For toxicologists, the invitation is to widen our lens and prevent exposures at their root, literally, in the soil. We can help design remediation strategies, guide safer agronomy, and inform policies that rebuild SOM and reduce population-level exposures. Many cultures call soil the “mother of life.” To restore soil is to restore health, trust, and our shared future. The choice is simple, act wisely now or drift toward a world where food itself becomes a slow toxicological experiment. May we choose life, responsibly.
FAO & ITPS. Status of the World’s Soil Resources (SWSR). Rome: FAO; 2015.
IPCC. Climate Change and Land: Special Report. Geneva: IPCC; 2019 (chapters on desertification, land degradation, and food security).
Lal, R. 2019. “Accelerated Soil Erosion and the Global Carbon Cycle.” Nutr Cycl Agroecosyst 115: pages 119–129.
Sanderman, J., T. Hengl, G.J. Fiske. 2017. “Soil Carbon Debt of 12,000 Years of Human Land Use. PNAS 114(36): pages 9575–9580. doi:10.1073/pnas.1706103114
This blog was prepared by an SOT member and represents the views of the author. SOT does not propose or endorse any position by posting this article.