15 toxic chemicals added to 'high concern' list for children
08 July 2025, Berlin: Four to six-year-old children from City kindergartens play on the Berlin play carpet for early childhood mobility education. In cooperation with the BVG, S-Bahn Berlin and the company Spielwende, the Senate Department for Educat
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - Fifteen chemicals have been added to the Minnesota Department of Health's list of chemicals that are of high concern.
Chemicals added to the Toxic Free Kids Program list
The chemicals added to the list for the 2025 update can be found here. They include chemicals that can cause skin and eye irritation, reproductive harm, renal and respiratory issues, cancer and other issues.
Meanwhile, 200 chemicals have been removed from the list, including pesticides for commercial use or have been discontinued.
Why you should care:
The new chemicals, along with the existing substances, can lead to negative health effects for everyone, but especially children.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) identifies a "Chemical of High Concern" as being known or suspected to:
- Harm the normal development of a fetus or child or cause other harmful developmental effects
- Cause cancer, genetic damage or reproductive harm
- Disrupt the endocrine or hormone system
- Damage the nervous system, immune system or organs, or cause other harm to the entire body
- Be persistent, toxic and bioaccumulative (build up in the body)
The backstory:
In 2009, the Toxic Free Kids Program was established by the Minnesota Legislature. By July of 2010, the first Chemicals of High Concern list was released. Toxic Free Kids Program requires MDH to update this list at least every three years.
The updated list released this week marks the fifth update of the original list.
What you can do:
Toxic Free Kids Program is working to raise awareness about the listed health risks associated with harmful chemicals.
Its done this through practitioner training, tabling at community events, developing multilingual educational materials and digital media engagement.
Hundreds of people across the state have now been educated about these chemicals. For more information, visit the Toxic Free Kids Program webpage on MDH’s website.