IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v7y2010i3p1205-1223d7533.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Impact of Direct Soil Exposures from Airborne Dust and Geophagy on Human Health

Author

Listed:
  • David Sing

    (Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan Medical School, 1241 E. Catherine Street, 5928 Buhl Building, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5618, USA)

  • Charles F. Sing

    (Department of Human Genetics, University of Michigan Medical School, 1241 E. Catherine Street, 5928 Buhl Building, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5618, USA)

Abstract

Over evolutionary time humans have developed a complex biological relationship with soils. Here we describe modes of soil exposure and their biological implications. We consider two types of soil exposure, the first being the continuous exposure to airborne soil, and the second being dietary ingestion of soils, or geophagy. It may be assumed that airborne dust and ingestion of soil have influenced the evolution of particular DNA sequences which control biological systems that enable individual organisms to take advantage of, adapt to and/or protect against exposures to soil materials. We review the potential for soil exposure as an environmental source of epigenetic signals which may influence the function of our genome in determining health and disease.

Suggested Citation

  • David Sing & Charles F. Sing, 2010. "Impact of Direct Soil Exposures from Airborne Dust and Geophagy on Human Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 7(3), pages 1-19, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:7:y:2010:i:3:p:1205-1223:d:7533
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/3/1205/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/7/3/1205/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cyril Moulin & Claude E. Lambert & François Dulac & Uri Dayan, 1997. "Control of atmospheric export of dust from North Africa by the North Atlantic Oscillation," Nature, Nature, vol. 387(6634), pages 691-694, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Nick Middleton & Utchang Kang, 2017. "Sand and Dust Storms: Impact Mitigation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-22, June.
    2. Christian Opp & Michael Groll & Hamidreza Abbasi & Mansour Ahmadi Foroushani, 2021. "Causes and Effects of Sand and Dust Storms: What Has Past Research Taught Us? A Survey," JRFM, MDPI, vol. 14(7), pages 1-25, July.
    3. Gholizadeh, Heydar & Zoghipour, Mohammad Hossein & Torshizi, Mohammad & Nazari, Mohammad Reza & Moradkhani, Narges, 2021. "Gone with the wind: Impact of soil-dust storms on farm income," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    4. Ying Dai & Peter Hitchcock & Natalie M. Mahowald & Daniela I. V. Domeisen & Douglas S. Hamilton & Longlei Li & Beatrice Marticorena & Maria Kanakidou & Nikolaos Mihalopoulos & Adwoa Aboagye-Okyere, 2022. "Stratospheric impacts on dust transport and air pollution in West Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:7:y:2010:i:3:p:1205-1223:d:7533. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.