Babies and Brockovich are highlighting a new grassroots campaign in favor of federal legislation mandating stronger regulation and testing of more than 80,000 synthetic chemicals found in household goods and cleaning products.

The "Million Baby Crawl" campaign asks parents to sign up their children on the Web for a virtual knees-and-hands trek to Washington, D.C., in support of the Kid-Safe Chemicals Act to reform existing toxic chemical rules that, it says, have failed to protect the health of children and adults.

Consumer and environmental advocate Erin Brockovich said the new law is needed because the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act doesn't live up to its name. Since it was enacted, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has required testing of 200 of the 80,000 chemical compounds used in consumer products.

"I'm a foot soldier on the ground, visiting different communities, and I see people, children, being harmed by chemicals in air and water and household products," Ms. Brockovich said last week in a phone interview from New York City, one of a half-dozen cities where campaign kick-off events were held. "I've noticed a real absence of agency oversight and the 1976 law has really done nothing but allow these chemicals to slide through the system and into household products."

Ms. Brockovich, a former beauty queen and mother of three who gained fame in the 1990s fighting water pollution caused by the Pacific Gas and Electric Co., said the Toxic Substances Control Act does not give the EPA the authority to get the information it needs to evaluate a chemical's risk. It also doesn't require testing to prove a chemical is safe before it is used in consumer products.

Last month, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said reform of the nation's laws governing toxic chemicals is urgently needed because under existing laws the agency knows too little about new chemicals coming into the market and home and is "not getting the job done."

"It's time for common-sense limits on toxic chemicals in our homes, workplaces and in the products we use," said Andy Igrejas, a leader of the Safer Chemicals, Healthy Families coalition that along with Seventh Generation, a "green" household products company, is promoting the Million Baby Crawl. "We must act together to see that new legislation is passed and families are protected from unsafe products."

A new Kid-Safe Chemicals Act, which hasn't been introduced yet but will be similar to a bill that was introduced last year and failed to get out of committee, would give the EPA the resources and authority to restrict a chemical's use unless chemical manufacturers meet tougher testing and safety standards. It moves the burden of proving that a chemical is safe to manufacturers.

Introduction of the legislation, which was opposed last year by the chemical industry, has been delayed while Congress works on health care reform.

"We need more information and more awareness about these chemicals so that parents can make better decisions," Ms. Brockovich said. "This isn't about finger-pointing at industry. We have the technology to find out what's going on and decide to do the right thing. And that can make a difference for a lot of people.

"Parents need to get more proactive and consumers and parents need to become more aware of the chemical risk and say to Congress 'This is something important.' "

More information about the Million Baby Crawl is available at www.MillionBabyCrawl.com.

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