Environmental and Health Effects of Emerging Contaminants –A Critical Review

Emerging contaminants, including pharmaceutical drug molecules, personal care products, and microplastics, are frequently present in the environmental samples.These are derived from various sources of municipal wastewater discharges, domestic solid waste dumped on land, disposal from farmlands, and industrial discharges.These may cause innumerous hazardous effects, particularly endocrine disruption to all the organisms exposed to such contaminants.The treated sewage sludge is applied to the agricultural field without screening for emerging contaminants.As a result of the toxicity exposed to the organisms, antibiotic-resistant bacteria disseminated in the environment due to the occurrence of antibacterial drugs in the environmental samples.It is reported that more than 200 different kinds of pharmaceutical drugs were found in the river water, and the ciprofloxacin concentration was up to 6.5 mg/l.Global water scarcity has a major impact on agriculture, leading to the use of treated wastewater for farmland.The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognizes pharmaceutical and personal care products (PPCPs) as carcinogens and endocrine disruptors.Many scientists have recently reported that these kinds of novel contaminants are toxic and can affect the environment and health.This paper critically analyzes emerging contaminants and their impact on the environment and health.Further, it presents viable solutions to manage and control them through various analytical techniques, artificial intelligence, and machine learning methods.