On December 25, 2025, to implement the Action Plan for the Management of New Pollutants, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China, together with the National Disease Control and Prevention Administration, officially released the Priority Controlled Substances List (Third Batch) (Announcement No. 43 of 2025). This batch includes 23 types of chemicals. Their production and use primarily involve industries such as petrochemicals, plastics, rubber, pharmaceuticals, textiles, dyes, coatings, pesticides, leather, and electroplating.
The Priority Controlled Substances List focuses on chemicals that pose significant environmental and health hazards, may persist in the environment long-term, and present unreasonable risks to ecosystems or human health. Selection is primarily based on factors including environmental behavior characteristics (persistence, bioaccumulation), environmental and health hazard attributes (aquatic toxicity, carcinogenicity, mutagenicity, reproductive toxicity, endocrine-disrupting properties, specific target organ toxicity from repeated exposure, etc.), and environmental exposure scenarios (domestic production/usage volume, application distribution, public exposure frequency).
The previous two batches of the list collectively included 40 types of chemicals, covering various human carcinogens, persistent organic pollutants, and heavy metal substances, involving sectors such as chemical manufacturing, light industry, plastics, rubber, and pharmaceuticals.
For substances listed in the Priority Controlled Substances List (Third Batch), environmental risk control measures should be implemented targeting key stages where environmental and health risks arise, considering economic and technical feasibility, to minimize the impact of their production and use on human health and the environment.
