As a child I made the mistake of playing in the sandbox at my school. I didn't know there were other chemicals inside the sandbox besides sand. I only found out there were chemicals in the sand after I had a large, painful rash. Unlike river and air pollution, soil contamination is not easily detectable. A person cannot detect it with the naked eye. And because of this, many people around the world have suffered from complications due to soil contamination. Soil contamination is a serious and often overlooked environmental problem that threatens the safety of the environment and those affected by it. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), soil contamination occurs when hazardous solid or liquid substances enter the soil from the ground. These substances can become physically or chemically attached to soil particles or trapped between soil particles. It is possible for these contaminants to enter the soil in many ways. They can be poured or buried in the ground. Chemicals from a smokestack can seep into the soil or polluted water can run off the ground. Chemicals can also seep into the ground from factories, mines and smelters. In one case in the 1960s, chemicals from Japanese mines were found to be the culprit behind the soil contamination. A mysterious disease was on the rise in the Jinzu River basin, weakening the bones of rural residents. The disease was later discovered to have come from cadmium from local mines. This metal seeped into the soil where the rice was grown and when the inhabitants ate the rice they became ill. While cadmium is useful for soldering, making compounds, and making batteries, it is not suitable for human consumption because it is a poison.Chri...... middle of paper...... why agencies can be slow to act . Some very good points were made in Michael Hawthorne's article, even though the information was distorted because it portrayed the EPA negatively. He explained how in a neighborhood there can be many lots contaminated with chemicals dating back decades and how these chemicals can put people's health at risk. It also explains some of the cleaning processes for eliminating contaminated soil. Although it is difficult to clean up every plot of contaminated land, since soil contamination is a worldwide problem, as much attention should be paid to soil contamination as to air pollution. There may be as many dangerous chemicals in the soil as there are in the air, and just because we don't see them doesn't mean they aren't there. If we don't work harder to clean up contaminated soil now, the problem will only get worse.