SACRAMENTO, Calif. - The state's top environmental official has backed a proposal to make California the first state to ban two forms of chemicals used as flame retardants.

California Environmental Protection Agency Secretary Winston Hickox cited research showing the chemicals commonly used in upholstery, electronics, and other foam and plastic products accumulate in the blood of mothers and their newborn children.

State lawmakers are considering restrictions similar to those recently adopted by the European Union, which will ban their use by mid-2004. Though some U.S. manufacturers have voluntarily stopped using what are collectively known as PBDEs - polybrominated diphenyl ethers - Hickox said the chemicals should be regulated nationally.

Assemblywoman Wilma Chan said she hopes approval of her proposed California ban "will spark the rest of the nation to take action." The chemicals would be banned by 2008 under the plan.

A telephone message was not immediately returned from the Chemical Manufacturers Association.

It was an earlier trendsetting move by California in the mid-1970s that prompted manufacturers to search for flame-retardant chemicals including those the state now wants to ban, said Leif Magnuson, a pollution prevention coordinator with the U.S. EPA.

Back then, the state set fire retardant standards for the flexible foam used in upholstered furniture that "has become sort of the de facto industry standard," he said.

In the last nine months, the U.S. EPA has asked manufacturers to disclose their toxicity studies, which are currently under review. Magnuson expects a decision by year's end on whether to seek more study, ask for voluntary restrictions, or ban use of the chemicals, though that step would be "very unlikely."

The level of the chemicals found in European women's breast milk declined after the ban there, and Hickox said he expects similar results in California if a ban is adopted.

Citing research partly developed by the state EPA, Hickox said the chemicals - pentabrominated diphenyl ethers and octabrominated diphenyl ethers - can disrupt the thyroid and hurt children's brain development.

The levels in North American women are the highest in the world and are nearing levels that have been shown to damage learning, memory, and behavior in laboratory mice, Hickox said. The chemicals have been widely found, from San Francisco harbor seals to Great Lakes birds to Arctic polar bears.