Photographer: Sim Chi Yin/The New York Times via Redux

A farmer prepares his land to plant sweet potatoes beside a lead factory at Chenjiawan in the Hunan Province of China on Dec. 3, 2013

China’s air and water pollution is more visible than its soil pollution and more often makes headlines. But recent government studies underscore the worrying extent of heavy-metal pollution tainting China’s agricultural lands—and its food supply.

A new study from the China National Environmental Monitoring Center examines the results of nearly 5,000 soil samples from vegetable plots across China. Roughly a quarter of the sampled areas were polluted. The most common problem is high soil concentrations of heavy metals—such as cadmium, lead, and zinc—which leach out from open mines and industrial sites and into surrounding farmland.

Plants grown in tainted soil can absorb heavy metals. People who ingest high levels of heavy metals over an extended time can develop organ damage and weakened bones, among other medical conditions.

Story: China's Plan to Export Pollution

Another recent study by the nonprofit Changsha Shuguang Environmental Charity Development Center found that farmland in the southern Hunan province contains more than 200 times the level the government deems safe. Hunan is one of China’s most important rice-growing provinces.

In April, China’s environmental ministry released the results of a 5-year nationwide soil study, which found that 19.4 percent of the country’s farmland was dangerously polluted.

Soil Pollution in China Still a State Secret Despite Recent Survey By Angel Hsu & William Miao | June 18, 2014

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On March 17, the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Ministry of Land and Resources released the first-ever results of a nationwide soil pollution survey that took place from 2005 to 2013. International media have commended the release, which revealed startling statistics such as one-fifth of arable land is polluted and contaminated with inorganic chemicals like cadmium, nickel and arsenic. On the surface, it seems, soil pollution, which was once a “state secret,” is no longer.

Overall, the report admits that the situation is “not optimistic.” The survey further reveals that inorganic pollutants are the primary contaminants in China’s soil. Chronic exposure to cadmium can lead to kidney disease, and was recently found to be present in almost half of the rice tested in the city of Guangzhou, the capital city in Southeastern Guangdong province. Arsenic, which is a water contaminant, can lead to skin lesions and skin cancer. These pollutants result from industrial waste from factories and mines as well as automobile exhaust. Irrigation using polluted water resulting from the use of fertilizers and pesticides, as well as raising livestock, can also cause soil contamination.

Arable land around the urban fringe in China. (Cao Chunhai/Thinkstock)

Soil pollution is a serious concern in China, particularly with respect to the human health implications resulting from contaminated water and food. However, while this report represents a significant step toward greater transparency with respect to pollution in China, it still lags in some key aspects and raises questions as to what can be done about the problem, the full extent of which is still unknown.

Breaking down the soil statistics

My colleagues and I reviewed the survey results and relevant regulations on soil and found that there are major gaps. First, it should be noted that none of the raw data or full survey results were released to the public, and likely will not be. When the government completed its first national pollution census in 2010, the raw data were never publicly released, despite findings that revealed a doubling in the extent of water pollution.

Second, careful attention should be paid to how exactly the statistics and findings are worded in the report. While the headlines suggest 16.1 percent, or one-fifth, of soil is contaminated, the report is more nuanced. According to our translation, the government surveyed “approximately 6.3 million square kilometers” of arable land, including woodlands, grasslands, unused and construction lands, of which 16.1 percent of surveyed points (点位 or dianwei) “exceed limits.” Exactly what these limits are was not made explicit in the report itself, but are available here (in Chinese). While a subtle distinction, it should be noted that the report actually does not go as far as specifying the total area of land that is contaminated, but rather a percentage of sampled points.

While the sampling techniques do have scientific grounding, exactly how the survey was conducted was not included in the initial report. Instead, government officials held a press conference (in Chinese) to explain some of the results of the survey. Essentially, the total surveyed area of 6.3 million square kilometers was divided into 8 kilometer by 8 kilometer plots (an area larger than Manhattan), each containing one point. Officials admitted that the soil survey results only provide an aggregate, macro picture of soil quality in China because the variability of conditions makes it difficult to be comprehensive or accurate using only points. What’s disturbing is that some areas could potentially be more polluted than these sampling points describe. It’s akin to saying that the entire soil quality of Manhattan is homogenous; the actual situation could be much worse than what these statistics show.

What now?

The twelfth Five-Year Plan includes a 30 billion yuan ($4.8 billion) commitment to address soil pollution. However, compared to the amount that the State Council approved last July to tackle air pollution—$277 billion—the amount allocated to soil seems to be a drop in the bucket. Part of the reason for this discrepancy is the lack of pubic awareness about soil pollution; the Chinese are comparatively much more aware of the dangers of air and water pollution.

Remediation of soil is also difficult, both from a technical and regulatory perspective. China lacks any type of soil remediation standard and regulations for pollution levels in soil are outdated. As a result, a lot of polluted farmland goes untreated. The potential consequences for agriculture could certainly threaten food provision in China, where in December 2013 the country’s Ministry of Land Resources deemed some 8.24 million acres of arable land (around one-fourth of the total) unfit for farming.

While the initial soil pollution survey is a start, it’s not enough. It took almost nine years for the government to reach such meager and incomplete results. More details about the spatial location of sampling sites and the levels of exceedance for individual points, as well as the release of the raw survey results, would provide better clarity and much-needed transparency to understand how prevalent the problem may be. As the survey stands, there is too much left open to interpretation. Without access to the full raw data and results of the survey, it may be impossible to know exactly what the government in China may be nuancing with these statistics. Such numbers, while providing a starting point, may be hiding a much more dangerous truth beneath their surface.

Peter Hirsch, a Masters of Environmental Management candidate of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, designed the following infographic.

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Soil pollution is a 'severe problem' in ChinaSoil pollution has been one of the side effects of three decades of breakneck economic expansion in China, raising concerns over food security and people's health in the world's most populous nation.

China's troubles with air and water pollution are widely known with

its smog-clouded cities and chemical-filled rivers drawing

international attention. However, there is another, less visible

consequence of the whirlwind GDP growth the country has

experienced over the past three decades: soil pollution.

"Rapid industrialization has left a legacy of soil pollution that is

damaging health and livelihoods in villages across China," concluded a

recent investigation titled "The victims of China's soil pollution crisis,"

jointly conducted by Yale Environment 360 and chinadialogue, a non-

profit organization based in London and Beijing.

However, soil pollution is not only affecting the health and well-being

of Chinese citizens, it is also putting the nation's food security at risk.

A Chinese government report released in April this year said that 16.1

percent of the country's soil was polluted.

The figure for contaminated farmland is even higher, 19.4 percent.

The main contaminants are heavy metals such as cadmium, lead,

nickel and arsenic, among others.

19.4 percent of the farmland in China is contaminated, according to

the government

The areas mainly affected include the country's industrial belt along

the eastern coast as well as inland provinces in central and western

China. Experts say the main sources of this kind of pollution are

industrial waste seeping from factories onto the soil, and agricultural

activities such as the application of fertilizers and the use of polluted

water for irrigation. The level of pollution has raised questions about

the quality of food produced in the contaminated regions.

Serious health risks

Miao Zhang, senior toxic campaigner at Greenpeace East Asia,

explains that soil pollution can cause underground water

contamination, thus damaging the quality and quantity of crops. The

contaminants, in turn, tend to "accumulate in the human body through

food chain," Miao told DW.

But despite the awareness of what pollution can do, poor people have

little choice but to eat locally produced food, highlights the

chinadialogue report. The organization's founder and editor, Isabel

Hilton, said in a DW interview that serious health issues, including

cancer and diseases infecting the nervous system, could be caused by

soil pollution.

DW recommends

'Millions of hectares of China's arable land are polluted'

With 19 percent of China's farmland contaminated, agriculture and

the livelihood of rural communities are being badly hit. Soil pollution

is an issue often obfuscated by the authorities, says China expert

Isabel Hilton. (24.07.2014)

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US and China agree to cooperate more closely to fight global warming

Smog makes Beijing barely suitable for living

"Like many conditions with environmental causes, the exact chain of

consequence in any case is hard to establish. But statistical and

epidemiological evidence makes a strong case for the relationship

between pollution and ill-health," she pointed out.

Soil pollution in China has attracted little public attention, in spite of

the health threats. Until recently, the government also resisted media

attempts to spotlight local cancer epidemics in the country's newly

industrial areas, the report claims. Indeed, the Chinese government

previously refused to divulge information on soil pollution terming it a

"state secret."

A severe problem

But in February 2013, the Ministry of Environmental Protection (MEP)

finally admitted that "cancer villages" existed in China. The

chinadialogue report cites the estimates of some civil society groups

which put the number of such villages at around 450, and that the

figure is on the rise.

Describing the pollution problem as "severe and urgent,"

Greenpeace's Miao says that it is hard to understand the reasons

behind the government's reluctance to share information. "But hiding

the data did make people wonder whether it was because the problem

was too terrible to be known," she added.

Analysts, however, agree that Beijing has started taking measures to

confront the problem, although it still has a long way to go. "Many

polluting factories have been shut down in central and eastern parts

of the country. Unfortunately, this is less true of western China where

there are thousands of toxic sites that need to be contained and we

are still not seeing the necessary level of pollution control," explained

Hilton.

Furthermore, experts call for more government focus on crop safety,

demanding that contaminated sites should be taken out of food

production chain. But getting rid of the pollution is not only about the

removal of contaminants, it also involves the restoration of soil health,

which is required to ensure food safety and people's health. The need

of the hour is a reorientation of the Chinese development model,

which has succeeded in lifting millions of people out of poverty over

the last three decades.

Hidden costs

The problem is that the emphasis was on very rapid growth and little

attention was paid to the negative effects, which economists call

externalities, stressed Hilton. "These effects are showing up in health

impacts, food safety, food security and water scarcity as well as

contamination.

Air and water pollution in China have drawn more international

attention than soil contamination

All of these have economic impacts, so looking only at GDP growth

does not give you the true picture," the expert underlined.

This view is shared by Greenpeace campaigner Miao, who argues that

treating one million hectares of polluted soil will cost at least 140

billion yuan (22.6 billion USD). "The economic development in the past

30 years did make China a good fortune. However, there is already

evidence showing that there is huge debt behind the prosperity."

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China's farmers, consumers feeling the effects of widespread soil pollutionGovernment study found 20% of farmland is tainted by lead, cadmium, pesticides and other toxins

A government study released last spring found that nearly 20 per cent of China's farmland is tainted by toxic metals and pesticides, and that pollution is making those who farm the land and consume the food grown on it sick, say environmental activists and some farmers.

The threat from pollution to China's food supply has been overshadowed by public alarm at smog and water contamination but is gaining attention following scandals over tainted rice and other crops.

The government was criticized last year when it refused to release results of a nationwide survey of soil pollution, declaring them a state secret.

Millions of acres of China farmland too polluted to grow food

This spring, it backtracked and released the study, which shows that the amount of contaminated farming soil is roughly the equivalent of all the farmland in Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritime provinces combined.

Pesticides, metals and other toxins taint countryside

Industrialization has transformed China's landscape, and for some, the price of factories, mines and megacities has been high. 

Complaints by farmers in China about lead and other pollutants in their soil and water supplies have led to protests against factories. (CBC)

The explosive growth of Chinese industry, overuse of farm chemicals and lax environmental enforcement have left swathes of the countryside tainted by lead, cadmium, pesticides and other toxins.

Investigations by the Ministry of Environmental Protection have found "moderate to severe pollution" on 3.3 million hectares.

Han Jinchao is a resident in a village in Hunan province that is surrounded by toxic farming soil. He is sick and has not left his home in six years.

"My legs, I don't feel any strength. My hands are the same. It's even hard for me to carry a bowl when I eat," he said.

There is no proof that the soil is what has made Han sick, but many of his neighbours are ill, too, and they all believe it is from toxic soil. 

"There are people with cancer. Also, some with diabetes. Also, many have cadmium levels that are higher than normal," said one of Han's neighbours. 

High levels of cadmium in rice

Greenpeace environmental activist Wi Yixiu says the toxicity in collected rice samples is extreme. 

"All the samples collected from this area were heavily contaminated by cadmium. Sometimes, the cadmium level is 20 times higher than the national standard," she said.

Cadmium is a carcinogenic metal that can cause kidney damage and other health problems and can be absorbed into rice, the country's staple grain.

Chinese farmers say they are getting sick from working on polluted land. (CBC)

In May last year, authorities launched an investigation of rice mills in southern China after tests found almost half of rice supplies sold in Guangzhou, a major city, were contaminated with cadmium.

In February 2013, the newspaper Nanfang Daily reported tens of thousands of tons of cadmium-tainted rice was sold to noodle makers in southern China from 2009 to this year. It said government inspectors declared it fit only for production of non-food goods such as industrial alcohol but a trader sold most of the rice to food processors anyway.

Other toxic substances like lead and arsenic have been found in food as well, and only in the most extreme cases has the government prohibited using the land for farming. 

Every consumer is vulnerable, says Greenpeace

But it will take decades before such soil is no longer toxic. 

'Every consumer in China is exposed to this kind of pollution. It is not just a remote issue. It can go to everyone's dining table.'- Wi Yixiu, Greenpeace

The government is working on a long-range plan and expects to spend several billion dollars a year on the effort but has given few details. Scientists say one possible

approach is to plant trees or other vegetation that will absorb heavy metals from the soil but will not be consumed by humans.

Complaints by farmers about lead and other pollutants in their water supplies have led to protests against battery factories.

"There have been a lot of scandals with the cadmium rice being found out in certain provinces and being sold at market," said Yixiu. "Every consumer in China is exposed to this kind of pollution. It is not just a remote issue. It can go to everyone's dining table."