A critical review on textile dye-containing wastewater: Ecotoxicity, health risks, and remediation strategies for environmental safety

Abstract

Textile dyes are becoming major environmental pollutants worldwide. Generally, they are discharged from textile industries into aquatic systems, which serve as primary sources for entire ecosystems, ultimately affecting human health. Thus, it is crucial to know the potential adverse consequences of textile dye exposure on phytoplankton, fauna, terrestrial entities and humans in the environment. This study provides an assessment of the appropriate publications, from which it can be demonstrated that textile waste can affect the life cycle of living organisms by disrupting growth and reproduction. In particular, various aquatic bodies become targets of textile wastewater. The impact of these dyes and its intermediates on the development of diatoms and their behavior, and the oxidative approach. Humans consume textile dyes through their food web and the intake of contaminated water. The consumed dye is bio-converted into reactive intermediates and aromatic amines by enzymes of the cytochrome family in the human body. In sub-cellular moiety, textile dyes and their bio-converted products form DNA and protein adducts. These compounds act as catalysts to form free radicals and oncogene activation, and affect apoptotic cascades to produce lesions in multiple organs. Dyes and their bio-transformed products, have been shown to modulate epigenetic factors including DNA methylation, histone modifications, epigenetic enzymes leading to carcinogens. Various remediation processes including physical, physico-chemical, biological and some integrated systems are currently under investigation. However, further research is required to develop efficient, cost-effective, and eco-friendly techniques while identifying future directions to boost textile effluent treatment efficiency and address remaining challenges.