Soil Contamination by Persistent Trace Substances in Relation to Organisms

Overview

The assessment of soil contamination by persistent substances is based on a multi-level system of criteria ofcontents, mobilities and transfer of hazardous trace elements into organisms and of contents and behaviour of organicxenobiotic substances, which reflects the increasing risks. The basis of the assessment are background values ofcontaminants, which represent the upper limit of the variability of natural and anthropogenic diffuse contents. Thedevelopment of the eco-, zoo- and humanotoxicologically relevant criteria is supported by risk assessments, whichare additionally performed to verify the on-site risk after the limits have been surpassed. Cooperation is neededamong toxicologists of human and veterinary medicine, sanation specialists and soil scientists.

Key words:
soil contamination, persistent contaminants, trace elements, organic xenobiotic substances, bac-kground values, reference values, protection of food chain, humans health.