Team August - Soils Support Health.

The role of soils in public and ecosystem health is vital and varied.  Above-ground biodiversity is important, but it is only a footnote to the diversity one can find below-ground in the soil environment. This diversity holds beneficial and potentially disease producing organisms. While salmonella and other disease organisms can be found most anywhere they can be kept in check by the large biodiversity of other organisms. The soil is a bioreactor and chemical reactor that can remove harmful public health enemies from the soil water as the water moves through the soil to water tables and surface waters. It is a source of nutrients that can determine the nutrient content and subsequent health of the food that grows above it – food for man and beast; and it can be a source of important pharmaceuticals. For example, the 1952 Nobel Prize in Medicine was awarded to a scientist who discovered Streptomycin from a soil microorganism. This medicine is still listed in the World Health Organization’s list of essential medicines. Today more uses of soil organisms for the treatment of cancer and depression are being investigated. If you wish to contribute you can join one of several citizen science programs looking at the potential health benefits of soils. Soils clearly sustain life through promoting health.