Last year, Assemblyman Mark Leno (D-San Francisco) sponsored a bill banning two types of toxic chemicals used as fire retardants in foam padding in furniture. These chlorinated and brominated chemicals are linked to cancer, birth defects and reproductive disorders; they migrate from furniture to dust particles, are breathed in by children and pets, and are found in the breast milk of nursing mothers. That bill, however, never reached Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's desk, falling victim to election-year squabbling.