Agricultural pesticides – friends or foes to biosphere?

•Synthetic pesticides are integral components of agricultural sector.•Irrational application of pesticides contaminates soil, water, and air.•Pesticides exert hazardous impacts on organisms of every taxa.•Hazardous impacts on survival, fertility, and physiology are evident on non-targets.•Irrational application must be avoided to reduce unintentional exposure. Pesticides are integral components of modern agricultural practices. The primary benefit of pesticide application includes immediate gain in terms of quality and quantity of food production. It further enhances the economic wealth and well-being of any nation. Unfortunately, pesticides are extensively used while ignoring their associated risks to the biosphere. Hence the present study aims to unravel potential impacts of pesticides on agricultural lands and different taxa of organisms. For this purpose, PRISMA guidelines were employed. Various search-terms were used to screen literature on ScienceDirect and PubMed databases. Original peer-reviewed articles published till January 2023 in English language were selected and assessed for relevancy. Study of the literature has revealed several cases of pesticide-induced mass mortality and sub-lethal impacts on pollinators, earthworms, fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Residues of pesticides have been reported in vegetables, grains, and dairy products that might act as sources of pesticide exposure. Moreover, people dealing with pesticides are directly exposed to these chemicals. Hence, the present work provides an extensive review of the detrimental impacts of pesticides on biotic components of the biosphere. It also illustrates the scope of IPM, organic-farming, remote-sensing, and GPS in reducing the irrational use of pesticides and subsequent negative impacts on biosphere. [Display omitted]