A critical review of pharmaceutical pollutants in soil and air: Ecotoxicological impacts on animal, plant and microbial communities - health hazards and waste management

Pharmaceutical contamination in soil and air has become a critical environmental concern due to its widespread sources, complex behavior, and long-lasting ecological impacts. A review in Environmental Pollution and Management explores the presence, fate, and effects of pharmaceutical compounds in soil, highlighting their entry routes, environmental persistence, and biological consequences. It provides valuable insights into an underexplored dimension of pharmaceutical pollution, aiming to inform future policy development and environmental protection efforts.

Pharmaceuticals infiltrate terrestrial and aquatic environments through various pathways, including agricultural application, pharmaceutical manufacturing waste, sewage sludge, hospital and household discharges, irrigation with contaminated water, and atmospheric deposition. A wide range of drug classes, such as antibiotics, analgesics, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, antidepressants, anticancer drugs, and hormones, have been identified in both soil and air matrices worldwide.

The review highlights key processes that affect pharmaceutical behavior in the environment, including adsorption of soil particles, degradation, leaching into deeper layers, airborne deposition, and bioaccumulation in organisms. “These processes significantly influence their environmental mobility and toxicity,” says co-author Md Saydur Rahman. “The presence of pharmaceuticals alters soil microbial communities, reduces biodiversity, and disrupts plant growth and crop productivity.”

Furthermore, terrestrial animals and wildlife exposed to airborne pharmaceutical residues face physiological and behavioral disturbances, raising significant ecological and health concerns.

“This review also highlights the urgent need for interdisciplinary research to better understand the dynamics of pharmaceuticals in soil and their long-term implications for ecosystem health and sustainability,” says Rahman.

The authors also recommended innovative strategies to minimize contamination, including advanced waste-treatment technologies and sustainable pharmaceutical practices.

Contact the author: 

Md Saydur Rahman

School of Integrative Biological and Chemical Sciences, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, Texas, USA.

md.rahman@utrgv.edu

Funder:

This work did not receive any grants from any funding source, including commercial or non-profit organizations.

Conflict of interest:

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

See the article:

Amin, M.F.; Rahman, M.S. A Critical Review of Pharmaceutical Pollutants in Soil and Air: Ecotoxicological Impacts on Animal, Plant and Microbial Communities—Health Hazards and Waste Management. Environ. Pollut. Manag. 2026, 3, 70–87. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.epm.2025.11.001