Footprint of green synthesizing ingredients on the environment and pharmaceuticals

Environmental pollution caused by toxic pharmaceutical ingredients and other human hazards is a sign of danger for the biological life on earth. Considering the importance of green revolution including the green pharmaceutical industries, the scientists and environmental protection agencies recently highlighted green chemical ingredients and biodegradable products as extreme protection line for our environment. An electronic search was conducted utilizing Science Finder, Medline, Scopus, and Google Scholar to gather English-language articles pertaining to chemical environmental hazards and green foot printing. Our study explored that environmental risks are majorly caused by emitted chemical pharma ingredients and non-biodegradable products such as antibiotics, analgesics, antidepressants, antihypertensive, contraceptives, steroids, hormones, and polychlorinated dioxins. Although the detected amounts of these ingredients are very small, however, such minute quantities are enough to be considered toxic for human, animal, and aquatic lives. Moreover, a significant number of drugs undergo incomplete metabolism in both humans and animals, contributing to environmental hazards alongside the substantial volume of non-biodegradable industrial waste. The current review highlights the impact of pharmaceutical waste on environmental safety, health of living world, and the recent achievements in adopting green pharma as an alternative strategy. Additionally, keeping in view the potential risk of production of toxic ingredients and emission by conventional chemical methods, this review further focuses on the footprint of green (plant source) synthesized ingredients for utilization in various pharma sectors and their possible implication in environmental protection.