Chemicals of High Concern

Background

The Toxic Free Kids Act required that the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH), after consultation with the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), generate a list of Chemicals of High Concern (CHC) by July 1, 2010. The chemicals had to meet these criteria identified in Minn.Stat.116.9401:

"Chemical of High Concern" means a chemical identified on the basis of credible scientific evidence by a state, federal, or international agency as being known or suspected with a high degree of probability to:

1. Harm the normal development of a fetus or child or cause other developmental toxicity;
2. Cause cancer, genetic damage, or reproductive harm;
3. Disrupt the endocrine or hormone system;
4. Damage the nervous system, immune system, or organs, or cause other systemic toxicity;
5. Be persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic; or
6. Be very persistent and very bioaccumulative.

The law also instructs MDH to “consider chemicals listed as a suspected carcinogen, reproductive or developmental toxicant, or as being persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic, or very persistent and very bioaccumulative by a state, federal, or international agency."

These agencies may include but are not limited to the following: the California Environmental Protection Agency, the Washington Department of Ecology, the United States Department of Health, the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the United Nation's World Health Organization, and European Parliament Annex XIV concerning the Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation, and Restriction of Chemicals.

MDH is required to update the CHC list at least every three years. The most recent update was published July 11, 2022. The next update is due to be published in July 2025. 

The following drop-down menus provide the current (2022) CHC list as well as other details regarding that update.