SACRAMENTO — Moving more assertively than lawmakers in other states, the California Legislature is stepping into a growing global debate over how to regulate potentially dangerous chemicals used in perfume, nail polish, plastic baby bottles, rubber ducks and thousands of other products.
Under measures facing votes this week, the state would collect samples from volunteers in California and study data from manufacturers to better identify which chemicals may pose health risks.
As early as next year, California also could become the first state to ban some types of phthalates and bisphenol A in toys and other products used by children under age 3. The widely used chemicals are suspected by some scientists of causing developmental problems in infants.
Phthalates were linked in a scientific study released last week to changes in the size and anatomy of baby boys' genitals.
If successful, the efforts in California could prompt similar measures in other states and require substantial change in the operations of the country's largest manufacturers.
The chemical, cosmetics and plastics industries are alarmed at the legislative push, which they say is driven more by ideological activism than by sound science.
The industries spent $3.5 million on lobbying over the last two years to defeat prior measures. But this year, those bills have been resurrected in politically more palatable forms, and more far-reaching ones have been added. New research may help bolster the bills' chances.
Taken together, the California proposals form an explicit rebuke to the approach of Congress and federal regulators, who generally do not ban chemicals until there is firm scientific evidence of their dangers.
Many of the California bills are modeled on the precautionary approach popular in Europe, where chemicals are often presumed dangerous unless proven otherwise.
"We want to provide the protection to Californians who ought to be as safe and as carcinogen-free as those who live in European nations," said state Sen. Carole Migden (D-San Francisco).
The Senate is expected to vote this week on her proposal to require cosmetics manufacturers to disclose to state health officials all the ingredients in their products that can cause cancer or inhibit reproduction.
