Poisoning Farmland With Toxic Waste Is Not A Good Long-Term Strategy

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Last Updated on: 19th April 2025, 01:05 pm

In the 1970s, Erma Bombeck created a sensation with her humorous book The Grass Is Always Greener Over The Septic Tank. We will leave it to readers to speculate as to why her thesis might be true, but suffice it to say that while there may be some natural fertilizers that promote the growing of crops, there is a whole range of the waste products from our industrial society that are toxic. When plants and animals are raised in areas where those toxins are prevalent, the results are poisonous products that may look like food but are actually dangerous to human health.

For decades, we have been vigorously on the lookout for places in our homes that have been painted with lead-based paint, because if it is ingested, especially by young children, it can lead to a host of negative outcomes, including delayed growth, delayed cognitive development, learning problems, behavioral problems, lower IQ scores, and hyperactivity. Homes with surfaces covered in lead paint require extensive and expensive remediation before they can be sold.

In March of 2024, Lead Safe Mama began coordinating independent, third party laboratory testing of foods, supplements, cosmetics, and personal care items. In all, more than 400 products have been tested for lead, mercury, cadmium, and arsenic. Of the 51 toothpastes and tooth powders tested, 35 percent tested positive for cadmium, 47 percent tested positive for mercury, 65 percent tested positive for arsenic, and 90 percent tested positive for lead. You can’t sell your house if there is lead paint in it, but you can paint your children’s teeth with lead every time they brush.

The results have been met with a collective yawn by state and federal officials. Tamara Rubin, the founder of Lead Safe Mamas, told The Guardian, “It’s unconscionable, especially in 2025. What’s really interesting to me is that no one thought this was a concern.” Among the brands found to contain the toxins were Crest, Sensodyne, Tom’s of Maine, Dr Bronner’s, Davids, Dr Jen, and others. So far, none have said they will work to get lead out of their product. Instead, several sent Rubin cease and desist letters, which could be an indication of an intent to sue. There’s money to be made selling toothpaste. How dare she endanger profits and diminish shareholder value!

Rubin says she has ignored the letters and posted them on her blog for all the world to see. Good for her! Some of the companies have defended themselves by claiming lead is found in trace levels throughout the environment and is impossible to avoid. Others have said the levels Rubin found are nothing to be concerned about. The Natural Resources Defense Council disagrees. It says, “We know that there’s no such thing as a ‘safe’ level of lead in the human body. Even trace amounts of it in children’s bloodstreams can lead to a host of negative outcomes, including delayed growth and cognitive development, learning problems, behavioral problems, lower IQ scores, and hyperactivity.”

Toxic Metals In The Soil

That is just the tip off the iceberg. A study conducted by the American Association for the Advancement of Science was published on April 17, 2025, by the journal Science. It begins with this introductory statement:

“Metals and metalloids are ubiquitous in soils, originating from bedrock and from human activities and infrastructure. These compounds can be toxic to humans and other organisms, and their soil distribution and concentrations at global scale are not well known. Hou et al. analyzed data from more than 1000 regional studies to identify areas of metal toxicity and explore drivers of these trends. They estimate that 14 to 17% of cropland exceeds agricultural thresholds for at least one toxic metal. Climate and topography, along with mining activity and irrigation, predicted which soils would exceed metal thresholds. Soil metal pollution is a global issue that will likely increase with the growing demand for toxic metals in new technologies.”

The research found that about one sixth of global cropland — about 242 billion hectares or almost a billion square miles — is contaminated by toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, nickel, or lead at levels that exceed agricultural and human health safety thresholds. The analysis collected data from more than 1,000 regional studies worldwide and used machine learning technology as well.

Dr. Liz Rylott, a senior lecturer in the department of biology at the University of York, who was not involved in the research, told The Guardian, “These findings reveal the deeply worrying extent to which these natural poisons are polluting our soils, entering our food and water, and affecting our health and our environment. Often collectively called heavy metals, these elements cause a range of devastating health problems, including skin lesions, reduced nerve and organ functions, and cancers.”

Toxic metal pollution in the soil can occur naturally, but is made more prevalent by human activity. Contaminated soil causes significant risks to ecosystems and human health. It also reduces crop yields, jeopardizing water quality. Most importantly, it threatens the safety of the food supply because these toxic elements accumulate in the tissues of plants and farm animals. Once it occurs, toxic metal contamination can persist for decades. As demand for critical metals increases, scientists have warned that the heavy metal pollution of soils is likely to worsen. “Our drive for technology-critical metals to build the green infrastructure required to tackle climate change (wind turbines, electric vehicle batteries and photovoltaic panels) will exacerbate this pollution,” said Rylott.

Cadmium was found to be the most widespread toxic metal and was particularly prevalent in south and east Asia, parts of the Middle East, and Africa. “This map [see featured image above] illustrates how metal pollution is independent of human borders; to tackle this problem, countries will have to work together. Much of the pollution is in low and middle income countries where communities are directly affected, exacerbating poverty. The effect of these contaminated crops entering global food networks is not as clear.”

More research needs to be done, but the outlines of the problem are clear. We cannot continue to use the Earth as a community toilet without having severe effects on the survivability of the human race. Between higher temperatures and pollution from toxic substances, we are putting hundreds of millions if not billions of people at risk of shorter lifespans marked by disease and suffering. If we aspire to greatness, we must learn how to have the abundant lifestyle we all seek without degrading the Earth that supports us.