At some point it is war in Ukraine hopefully over. Then the deadly explosions from rocket and bomb strikes will come to an end – but the weapons of war have not yet exhausted their destructive potential.

Because the grenades, mines and other explosive projectiles destroy buildings and release Asbestos. They hit refineries – oil and chemicals seep into the ground and into waterways. But not only that: the ammunition itself is full of toxic chemicals. And they came to stay.

According to the Reuters news agency, at least 10.5 million hectares of agricultural land in Ukraine are said to be contaminated with chemicals. Once they are in the water or in the soil, sooner or later they will reach humans via plants, animals or drinking water. At least that’s what toxicologists assume. Reliable knowledge about how the substances behave in the soil and what influence they have from there on human health is still lacking in many places.

Ammunition contains explosives and heavy metals

“We are only now beginning to take care of them ammunition in the sea to take care of,” says Professor Edmund Maser, Director of the Institute for Toxicology at the University Hospital in Kiel. Despite many unanswered questions, these investigations allow one conclusion: Toxic chemicals are not good news for living beings.

On the seabed of the German parts of the North Sea and Baltic Sea alone, 1.6 million tons of war ammunition are rusting away, says Maser. The decomposition releases a toxic cocktail into the water that endangers the marine ecosystem and ultimately ends up on the plates of those who eat seafood.

TNT is carcinogenic

The dangerous substances in ammunition are mainly explosives and Heavy Metals. Explosives include TNT, which belongs to the group of nitroaromatics known for their explosive power. “We know from feeding studies with rats and mice that TNT is very toxic,” says Maser.

Toxicologists also observed in the sea that the TNT released from dumped munitions harms the animals in the area: “TNT impairs the reproduction, growth and development of marine animals,” says Maser. “We also know from animal studies that TNT and other explosives are carcinogenic.”

Mercury, arsenic and lead destroy cells

This also applies to some heavy metals such as arsenic and cadmium, which are also carcinogenic. “Heavy metals such as mercury are mainly contained in the detonators, where, in the form of mercury fulminate, they ensure that an explosive such as TNT explodes more quickly,” explains Maser.

Mercury is also one of the heavy metals and causes damage to nerve cells. “It can also lead to birth defects in unborn children,” says Maser. Lead can have a similar effect and lead to developmental disorders and miscarriages.

Kateryna Smirnova from Sokolovskyi Institute of Soil Science and Agrochemistry of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraineone of the leading scientific institutes for soil science and soil protection in Ukraine, says that soil samples from the Kharkiv region have already shown increased concentrations of carcinogenic heavy metals such as lead and cadmium.

Smirnova’s colleague Oksana Naidyonova, a microbiologist at the Sokolowskyj Institute, explains that the heavy metals have a negative effect on the activity of bacteria in the soil. “They inhibit plant development and micronutrient supply, which contributes to physiological disorders and reduces their resistance to disease.”

However, the chemicals don’t necessarily stay in the soil. TNT, for example, can be carried and distributed by the wind, Maser said. The rain takes care of the substances deeper in the soil. “The substances may then find their way into surface water, contaminating streams, rivers and lakes,” explains the toxicologist.

through his Research in the North and Baltic Seas Maser suspects that the chemicals accumulate along the food chain. “We are concerned that humans as end consumers are at risk if they eat such contaminated fish.”

Or the rain seeps away and the substances get in with this seepage water groundwater. “Then the drinking water is endangered,” says Maser. However, the seepage water could also contribute to mercury and the like being distributed in the soil and being absorbed by plants. When it comes to cereals or vegetables, the chemicals ultimately end up in the human body this way.

Scorched earth forever?

The toxicologist Edmund Maser calculates that the Black Sea will probably be in a similar condition to the North and Baltic Seas after this war: a sea full of poisonous ammunition that is easy to forget.

The toxicologist and his team are looking for solutions to remove the toxic TNT from the sea. “We have hope that bacteria can do that.” However, the researchers have not yet found a bacterium that could be used systematically. And the problem with the heavy metals would remain.

Maser says they might be able to excavate the top layers of soil to extract the heavy metals and TNT using various methods to make the soil reasonably usable again and to dispose of the chemicals. However, such remedial measures are expensive and time-consuming.

Billions in damage from destroyed soil

“According to preliminary general estimates, the damage and losses to the land fund and land in Ukraine total over 15 billion US dollars,” say the experts from the Sokolowskyj Institute, emphasizing the preliminary nature of the estimates.

In the case of heavy metals, “disposal” only means storing the hazardous substances in a place that has been found to be safe. Because, as the toxicologist Maser says, heavy metal is still heavy metal. “You can’t get rid of that anymore.”