Organic Pollutants

Abstract

Concerns on organic pollutants as threat to environment is increasingly perceived since later half of the previous century. Although initially focus was on some of the pesticides used in controlling insects in agriculture and disease spreading vectors in residential area, concerns on several other types of organic pollutants increased afterwards with activities of chemical and petrochemical industries and use of xenobiotics in many lifestyle products. Threat from organic pollutants arises many a times due to their extreme toxicity at very low level of exposure as well as their high persistency in the soil. Due to advancements in detection capabilities, researchers have generated considerable information on the source, routes of contamination to soil, interactions with soil constituents, degradability by and impact on soil microorganisms, uptake by plants and contamination of food etc. The impacts on agroecosystem are indicated as multidimensional like food contamination, reduced soil enzymes activity leading to disruption in nutrient transformation processes, diminished biodiversity, mutagenicity among microorganisms etc. Most common groups of organic pollutants in soil including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pesticides, dye pollutants, antibiotics are discussed for their sources, fate and impact on the ecosystem.