Silent threats of organophosphates: surging pollutants, harmful impacts, remediation strategies, and viable eco-friendly alternatives

The rising demand for food production has led to an increase in pesticide use globally, with organophosphates (OPs) widely employed to ensure crop protection and meet target yields. This review highlights the chemical composition of OPs, the mechanism of their action, and their persistence in the ecosystem. The adverse impacts of these pesticides extend across human health, soil biota, and other environmental habitats. Various methods, including innovative approaches like bioremediation and nanoremediation, are discussed here to address and clean up pesticides and their residues, focusing on parameters that significantly impact human health and well-being. Organic farming with the use of plant-based pesticides also has efficacious results without toxicity. These alternatives provide promising criteria to lower the dependency on OPs in the process of intensive agriculture. This review further focused on integrated pest management, a regulatory strategy many countries, including India, adopted to control OP use and reduce associated environmental risks.