ABSTRACT
Unprecedented industrial and anthropogenic activities have led to release of enormous pollutants such as pesticides, heavy metals, hydrocarbons, etc., into the environment. The pesticides include a group of chemicals such as herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, etc., used worldwide to control pests, weeds, and crop diseases. The toxic effect of a pesticide varies with time, dosage, organism characteristics, pesticide type, and environmental conditions. The persistence of a pesticide in the environment leads to a life risk; the more persistent a pesticide is, the worse is its impact on ecosystem and mankind. Pesticides in agriculture were generally considered advantageous and no concern regarding the risks associated with these chemicals to environment and mankind existed until the publication—Silent Spring came in which the problems attributed to pesticides were addressed that could arise as a result of indiscriminate use of pesticides. The present chapter also highlights the impact of pesticides on environment and mankind with their possible remediation measures. For the effective management of pesticides other remediation measures such as bioremediation need to be paid more attention for broad-spectrum applications.
