Health effects of herbicides and its current removal strategies

ABSTRACT

The continually expanding global population has necessitated increased food supply production. Thus, agricultural intensification has been required to keep up with food supply demand, resulting in a sharp rise in pesticide use. The pesticide aids in the prevention of potential losses caused by pests, plant pathogens, and weeds, but excessive use over time has accumulated its occurrence in the environment and subsequently rendered it one of the emerging contaminants of concern. This review highlights the sources and classification of herbicides and their fate in the environment, with a special focus on the effects on human health and methods to remove herbicides. The human health impacts discussion was in relation to toxic effects, cell disruption, carcinogenic impacts, negative fertility effects, and neurological impacts. The removal treatments described herein include physicochemical, biological, and chemical treatment approaches, and advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). Also, alternative, green, and sustainable treatment options were discussed to shed insight into effective treatment technologies for herbicides. To conclude, this review serves as a stepping stone to a better environment with herbicides.

Keywords:

• Herbicide contamination
• mode of action
• adverse effect
• human health
• physico-chemical treatment
• biological treatment
• chemical treatment
• sustainable treatment

Acknowledgments

Additional support and resources were provided by the Malaysian Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE), the University of Malaysia Kelantan (UMK), and the University of Technology Malaysia (UTM).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Author contributions

Conception and design: Rozidaini Mohd Ghazi, Zainul Akmar Zakaria.

Drafting of the paper: Rozidaini Mohd Ghazi, Nik Raihan Nik Yusoff, Nurul Syazana Abdul Halim, Ikarastika Rahayu Abdul Wahab, Muhammad Abbas Ahmad Zaini, Nurzila Ab Latif, Siti Halimah Hasmoni and Zainul Akmar Zakaria.

Revising it critically for intellectual content: Zainul Akmar Zakaria, Muhammad Abbas Ahmad Zaini.

Final approval of the version to be published: Zainul Akmar Zakaria, Muhammad Abbas Ahmad Zaini, Rozidaini Mohd Ghazi and Nik Raihan Nik Yusoff.

All authors agree to be accountable for all aspects of the work.

Data availability statement

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analyzed in this study. All images were obtained from free-access images on freepik.com and Wikimedia Commons.

Highlights

• Understanding the source and classification of herbicides is important for practitioners involved in weed management programs.

• The adverse effects of herbicides on human public health are discussed.

• The physico-chemical, biological, and chemical methods, including advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for herbicide removal are reviewed.

• The advantages and limitations of alternative, green, and sustainable treatment methods are summarized.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.