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Special section on soil and human health – An editorial

Humans have long recognized the links between soil and human health, but movement towards the scientific study of these links is a relatively new undertaking (Brevik & Pereg, 2017; Oliver & Gregory, 2015). This may be due in part to the fact that the relations between soil and human health are complex and that many people worldwide do not eat locally produced food. Because the relations are often obscure there is a lack of widespread public interest in the topic, also undoubtedly contributed to by the relative lack of research in this area (Brevik et al., this issue). There is already much that we know regarding soil and human health. Soil supplies nutrients for the human diet through the soil–plant system, leads to exposures to pathogens and various chemical species both organic and inorganic, purifies water, provides medicines, influences climate and affects human health in many other ways, both direct and indirect. Several recent reviews have highlighted these links (e.g. Cakmak & Kutman, 2018; Li et al., 2018; Oliver & Gregory, 2015; Steffan et al., 2018; Stockamp & Thompson, 2016; Wall et al., 2015; Xie et al., 2018). Nevertheless, many questions still remain. This special section of the European Journal of Soil Science (EJSS) was undertaken in an effort to promote better understanding of this important topic.