THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE
Division on Earth and Life Studies and Health and Medicine Division
Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources and the Food and Nutrition Board
Committee on Exploring Linkages Between Soil Health and Human Health
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Congressional Briefing
Wednesday, June 12, 2024 – 2:00 p.m.
via Zoom
on
Exploring Linkages Between Soil Health and Human Health
Requested by Congress in P.L. 117-103, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022, this new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine explore the linkages between soil health and human health. The report finds that to improve soil health, federal agencies need to promote the importance of soil health, support translational research, and develop a coordinated national approach to monitor soil health over time and space. Given the potential that microbiomes have in modulating soil, plant, and human health, there is also a pressing need to determine which microbial features, if any, contribute to quantifying or fortifying health in both human and soil systems and to understand the direct and indirect roles of soil, alongside other environmental factors, in influencing human microbial colonization and subsequent health outcomes. Such investigation involves delving into the relatively sparse or disconnected research regarding the microbiome continuum that links soil and human systems.
This briefing was for members of Congress and congressional staff only. The report was publicly released on June 13, 2024 and can be found, in its entirety, on the Web site of the National Academies Press.