**4. Conclusions**

Much of the textile dyes are still discharged into rivers without undergoing chemical changes, even with conventional effluent treatments. Pollution generated by dyes from textile industry effluents is harmful to human and animal health, presenting carcinogenic, genotoxic, mutagenic effects, in addition to having direct effects on the survival of aquatic species, as such dyes can accumulate in the food chain, conferring toxicity to water and soil and interfere with the development of crops of agricultural interest.

A more rigorous inspection of the release of dyes is important given its potential toxicity, as well as the factories that may be clandestinely dumping effluents containing toxic dyes in water bodies, without any treatment. Studies must be carried out to optimize effluent treatment methods, which must be ecological and efficient, making use of new technologies provided by modern science.

Among the methods currently used, photocatalytic degradation presents good results, is cheap, and uses sunlight, a clean source of energy. In addition to this method, there is phytoremediation, considered an ecologically correct process, and enzymatic remediation. The enzymes used in the enzymatic bioremediation of textile industry effluents are mainly azoreductases, laccases, and peroxidases.

Enzymatic bioremediation or even conventional treatment can generate byproducts that are equally toxic to the starting compounds. But in some cases, less toxic intermediate compounds are generated, such as those presented in this chapter. Therefore, due importance must be given to these secondary products or by-products, identifying them, quantifying them, and subjecting them to proper handling and treatment.

The key point for the treatment of dyes is to have greater investment by companies to put the results of scientific research into practice. An alternative would be to carry out tests in simulation stations, as if on an industrial scale. In addition, genetic engineering has significantly revolutionized the field of bioremediation, with the possibility of modifying organisms or their metabolites so that they are more efficient in degrading pollutants.
