Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Can Ukraine's war-torn wheatfields be cleansed?
Known as a “breadbasket,” Ukraine is a top exporter of sunflower oil,
maize, and wheat. But as its farmland has turned into battlefields, much of the
soil has been contaminated by toxic elements from shells, missiles, drones,
bombs, tanks, and vehicles, each of which leaves different residues and remains
on the farmland. Researchers are particularly concerned about the toxicity of heavy
metals, such as cadmium, cobalt, copper, zinc, and nickel, which could increase
the chance of getting cancers, birth defects, miscarriage, or stillbirth. They’ve
also found that the land where tanks had burned or drones had
crashed more contaminated than the soil that had been hit by bombs or
projectiles. It would take significant labor, time, and money to decontaminate
the surface soil of the fertile farmland.
Read the article and learn about how Ukraine’s farmland has been
affected by the war.
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