Organic Micropollutants and Their Effects on the Environment and Human Health

The rapid increase in the urbanization process across the world leads to the production of micropollutants (MPs) that adversely impact the environment and threaten our health. These micropollutants based on their natural properties are categorized as organic micropollutants (OMPs) such as organochlorine pesticides, hormones, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, etc. and inorganic micropollutants including heavy metals. The chemicals used in various agricultural practices, industries, medical fields, power generation, and water treatment are few among key polluters. These MPs are highly toxic, persistent, and nondegradable, which slowly accumulate in living organisms and also exhibit the potential to transport over longer distance through the environment. MPs influence human health mainly by eliciting various dysfunctions like neurodevelopmental defects in children, thyroid disorders, bone defects, and endocrine-related malignancy. These pollutants also degrade soil health and its associated microbes, various biogeochemical processes associated with soil ecology, and genetic alteration in microbes. The fate, incidence, and eco-toxicological effect of MPs in the environment are a rather new challenge countenance by human societies. The emancipation of these MPs in the absence of any regulatory procedure leads to cause major environmental concerns even at their very low concentrations. The consequences of these MPs in the environment are not necessarily due to their persistence; however, it exists due to their active biological nature collectively with their continuous emission, which makes them emerging pollutant. This chapter includes the types of micropollutants, their sources, pathways, fate, distribution, and possible remediation of MPs in the environment. The future perspective is to develop eco-friendly and cost-efficient methods for the identification and fate of various micropollutants and their metabolites as well as various policies to reduce their concentration in the environment.