Environmental challenges of herbicide safeners and the sustainability solutions

Herbicide safeners are crucial for enhancing crop selectivity and maintaining weed control efficacy. However, their environmental behavior and ecological risks—such as potential toxicity to non-target organisms, soil and water contamination, and even indirect influence on unintended weed protection—are a growing cause for concern. This paper summarizes the evaluation of safeners' environmental risks, explores the role in sustainable weed management, and underscores the need for a comprehensive assessment of safeners. Furthermore, it highlights promising eco-friendly production strategies for novel safener development, such as the novel safeners sourced from natural products and those utilizing material-based encapsulation technologies, to minimize ecological impact. The implementation of safener management strategies is crucial for ensuring crop safe growth and advancing agricultural sustainability. • Most safeners pose concerns due to high environmental persistence and toxicity to non-target organisms. • Natural plant regulators can function as safeners while restoring soil health and function. • Nano-controlled release technology significantly reduces environmental toxicity and application frequency of safeners. • Establishing a comprehensive regulatory framework for safeners is inevitable.