Study: Tomatoes grown with lead-contaminated soil seem safe to eat
- Post by: Irjar Jira
- July 25, 2022
- Comments off
Cultivating your own fruits or vegetables is a difficult task for city dwellers. A backyard garden or terrace can provide easy access to healthy food. Is it safe to eat food if it has been grown in lead-contaminated soil?
A new study suggests there is reason to be optimistic. Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign discovered that tomatoes grown in soils untreated for lead contamination accumulated a shockingly low level of lead. This was similar to soils treated. This two-year experiment started out by growing Roma tomatoes in three Chicago neighborhoods with average soil lead levels over 350 parts per million – almost 17 times more than normal background level for lead in soil, and often surpassing the limits for inhalation risk in Illinois. Researchers compared the lead levels of plants that were grown with different phosphate-based fertilizers (often used in mitigation of soil lead levels) or without fertilizer at all. Both with or without the use of phosphate-based fertilizers the tomatoes had lead levels that were well below suggested consumption levels . “There was so little lead accumulation in the fruits, we estimate the average adult male would have to eat almost 400 pounds of tomatoes per week to reach toxic levels,” said Andrew Margenot, one of the co-authors of the study. He added that a child of about 60 pounds “would need to eat ‘only’ 80 pounds of tomatoes per week – still quite a bit, but a lower threshold of consumption.” These findings are good news for produce lovers in Chicago, which has been historically plagued by pollution. The city’s history of industrialization , which was centered around smelting and steelmaking , has left it with high levels of lead .. The median soil lead concentration in Chicago is ten times higher that expected background levels. This is also a matter of environmental justice, since most of the contaminated soil is found in predominantly Black neighborhoods of Chicago’s South Side. ” Many Black Americans had to move to highly industrialized areas in the city, which often had high levels of contaminants, including soil, water, air ,” Margenot. There are over 4,600 urban gardens throughout Chicago, and some of these projects have been targeted specifically to help communities of color throughout the city. It’s great to know that tomatoes can be eaten even though the soil is contaminated. However, people who live near industrial sites are still at risk of serious health problems. The study’s authors cautioned that food grown from heavily lead soil should be monitored. Although tomatoes were technically safe to consume in both years, the lead concentrations increased tenfold between the first and second year. The researchers were baffled by this result. Margenot stated that there was a poor correlation between total soil lead content and lead uptake .Additionally, previous research has found that while fruits may not bioaccumulate lead, leaves and roots might. Finally, although these tomatoes are safe to eat they can still be dangerous to work in lead-laced soil. ” If you can somehow avoid soil contamination and get to the fruit stage without any exposure, or if your soil is well-managed and you wear a suit and respirator to protect your skin, then you are golden,” Margenot stated. But, it’s not like that .”For urban dwellers growing fruits and vegetables is a difficult venture. A backyard garden or terrace can provide easy access to healthy food. Is it safe to eat food if it has been grown in lead-contaminated soils? A new study suggests there is reason to be optimistic. Researchers from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign discovered that tomatoes grown in soils untreated for lead contamination accumulated a shockingly low level of lead. This was similar to soils treated. This two-year experiment started out by growing Roma tomatoes in three Chicago neighborhoods with average soil lead levels over 350 parts per million – almost 17 times more than normal background level for lead in soil, and often surpassing the limits for inhalation risk in Illinois. Researchers compared the lead levels of plants that were grown with different phosphate-based fertilizers (often used in mitigation of soil lead levels) or without fertilizer at all. Tomatoes had lead levels that were well below suggested consumption levels . “There was so little lead accumulation in the fruits, we estimate the average adult male would have to eat almost 400 pounds of tomatoes per week to reach toxic levels,” said Andrew Margenot, one of the co-authors of the study. He added that a child of about 60 pounds “would need to eat ‘only’ 80 pounds of tomatoes per week – still quite a bit, but a lower threshold of consumption.”These findings are good news for produce lovers in Chicago, which has been historically plagued by pollution. The city’s history of industrialization , which was centered around smelting and steelmaking , has left it with high levels of lead .. The median soil lead concentrations are ten times higher that expected background levels. This is also a matter of environmental justice, since most of the contaminated soil is found in predominantly Black neighborhoods of Chicago’s South Side. ” Many Black Americans had to move to highly industrialized areas in the city, which often had high levels of contaminants, including soil, water, air ,” Margenot. There are over 4,600 urban gardens throughout Chicago, and some of these projects have been targeted specifically to help communities of color throughout the city. It’s great to know that tomatoes can be eaten even though the soil is contaminated. However, people who live near industrial sites are still at risk of serious health problems. The study’s authors cautioned that food grown from heavily lead soil should be monitored. Although tomatoes were technically safe to consume in both years, the lead concentrations increased tenfold between the first and second year. The researchers were baffled by this result. Margenot stated that there was a poor correlation between total soil lead content and lead uptake .Additionally, previous research has found that while fruits may not bioaccumulate lead, leaves and roots might. Finally, although these tomatoes are safe to eat they can still be dangerous to work in lead-laced soil. ” If you can somehow avoid soil contamination and get to the fruit stage without any exposure, or if your soil is well-managed and you wear a suit and respirator to protect your skin, then you are golden,” Margenot stated. But, it’s not like that .”