Arsenic is a toxic metalloid naturally found in the earth's crust and released into the environment through natural and anthropogenic activities. Arsenic becomes exceptionally toxic even at low exposure levels because of its high water solubility and bioaccumulation tendency in different environmental matrices. Crops receiving arsenic contaminated irrigation water accumulate it in different degrees depending on the species and variety. Consumption of contaminated crops and drinking water has been identified as important routes for its transfer into the food chain. Besides, consuming seafood and livestock-based food products such as meat and milk from arsenic endemic regions also contributes to the food chain transfer and contamination. The literature clearly indicates that the toxic effect of arsenic in any food product is highly dependent on its chemical speciation. Inorganic arsenic compounds are generally more toxic than organic forms. On consumption of contaminated food products and water, only the bioavailable form of arsenic goes directly into human body and interferes with different metabolic pathways. Thus, prolonged arsenic toxicity leads to carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks such as arsenicosis, cancers, hepatotoxicity, kidney failure, and skin diseases. Therefore, this review highlights the distribution and mobility of arsenic in soil-plant system, its bioavailability in plant and livestock-based food products, arsenic transfer into the food chain, and human health risks. In the current state when arsenic has emerged as a worldwide threat, an integrated strategy is urgently required to combat arsenic contamination, mandating the creation of national and international action strategies for arsenic contamination mitigation.

Traditional medicines have been playing significant role in livestock health care management since long especially in remote area. This paper is based on a field survey conducted to collect information for curing different ailments utilized by local people and tribals in the Hamirpur district, Himachal Pradesh. Total 541 households were interviewed involved as informants with fully prepared questionnaires; proper interaction along with group discussion. Information were collected from the selected sites regarding way to cure different ailments of animals which was further analyzed for the authenticity of data through different statistical quantitative indices. We found total 121 plant species belonging to 61 families that have been documented to be of common use for curing 78 different types of livestock. Total ailments were categorized into fifteen major categories based on the body organ systems of livestock. The highest number of ethno-medicinal plants were recorded from family Fabaceae followed by Asteraceae and other families. Leaves were the most commonly used part of the plant for the preparation of ethno-medicinal medicines followed by other plant parts. Achyranthes aspera, Acorus calamus, Pogostemon benghalensis are the most important plants used to cure different ailments on the basis of use value index. On the basis of Informant Consensus factor (FIC), diseases related to digestive system, reproductive system, respiratory and fever were considered as major ailments in the livestock. In conclusion, we found in this study that most of the plants are widely used to cure different ailments as reported previously by different workers. However, on the first hand, many new findings to cure different ailments of livestock have been found during this survey indicating need for conducting more studies to get valuable information from the local community which are not documented yet. It was also found that indigenous people have excellent information with respect to ethnoecological aspect. There is an urgent need to study and document the traditional uses before they are disappeared from the society or community and further study must be integrated with qualitative and quantatitative data to assess importance of plants for ethno-veterinery purposes.

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Global demand for freshwater is rapidly escalating. It is highly essential to keep pace with the necessities of the increasing population. The effluents of wastewater are gradually identified as a reservoir of resources for energy generation and economic boom. Henceforth, most wastewater and sludge have great potential for reuse and recycling. The re-utilization and valorization of wastewater and sludge contribute to accomplishing sustainable development goals, combating water scarcity, and alleviating adverse environmental impacts of wastewater on the environmental components. The present article highlights the most novel approaches for wastewater treatment for the waste valorization of different industrial origins and the generation of value-added products and recovery of biopolymers, vitamins, enzymes, dyes, pigments, and phenolic compounds. We highlighted the life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis. In addition, we have addressed a critical overview of the barriers to the large-scale application of resource recovery strategies and economic, environmental, and social concerns associated with using waste-derived products.

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