It is rare for the Legislature to ban industrial chemicals, but [Gray Davis] said California had to act quickly to control PBDEs because the federal government has not.

Toxicologists are alarmed about PBDEs because they are similar to PCBs in potency and persistency in the environment. Like PCBs -- insulating compounds banned in the 1970s -- the flame retardants can endure in the environment even after they are no longer used. The compounds are spreading globally through the air and settling as far away as the North Pole.

OFFICIAL APPROVAL: Gov. Gray Davis signed the ban on some PBDEs, used in polyurethane foam, in Venice on Saturday.; PHOTOGRAPHER: Beatrice de Gea Los Angeles Times