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Non-phthalate plastic additives and related contaminants in greenhouse and open-field cropland soils of southeastern Spain: Occurrence, distribution and screening-level risk.
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Farms in Spain are swapping out one group of harmful plastic chemicals (phthalates) for "safer" alternatives, but this study found those substitutes are showing up in soil at high levels, especially in plastic-covered greenhouse farms, where levels were roughly 10 times higher than in open fields. One of these substitute chemicals, triacetin, was found so often and at such high amounts that eating vegetables grown in this soil could pose a health risk to both adults and children, suggesting we may be trading one chemical problem for another rather than solving it.
Plastic additives leach from agricultural plastics into cropland soils, yet the non-phthalate plastic additives (NPPAs) increasingly used as replacements for regulated phthalates remain poorly monitored, particularly in soils. In this study, 28 NPPAs were screened in cropland soils from southeastern Spain (48 sites, 96 samples) by gas and liquid chromatography, both coupled to quadrupole-Orbitrap high-resolution mass spectrometry, comparing intensively managed greenhouse soils with extensively managed open-field soils. Ten out of the 28 targeted NPPAs were detected and identified; total concentrations (∑NPPA) ranged from 32.7 to 444,199.4 µg/kg (geometric mean: 1629.4 µg/kg) and were about ten-fold higher in greenhouse than in open-field soils (median 1470.2 vs. 148.1 µg/kg; p = 1.4 × 10). Triacetin showed the highest detection frequency (88.5%), followed by acetyl tributyl citrate (67.7%). Complementary non-targeted analysis revealed additional compounds identified at varying confidence levels (Schymanski Levels 1-2), including phthalates, other NPPAs, and various anthropogenic contaminants, underscoring the chemical complexity of cropland soils. A screening-level health-risk assessment indicated that hazard quotients (HQs) for triacetin exceeded unity in both adults (up to 2.1) and toddlers (up to 1.6), driven by the dietary pathway (soil-to-plant), while its predicted rat LD value (4808 mg/kg) indicated higher acute toxicity than that of regulated phthalates. These findings show that the substitution of phthalates by NPPAs shifts rather than removes the chemical burden entering agroecosystems, and that NPPAs warrant inclusion in soil-monitoring programs.
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