Washington lawmakers are working on a bill to ban a toxic chemical that's present in a number of household items.

It's called PBDE, and it makes household items like TVs, computers, and even children's pajamas flame resistant. But the chemical could also sicken people who simply breathe the air containing it.

"The most likely way that these chemicals are getting into the dust in our homes, and into our bodies - one of the major pathways is that they're actually leaching out of the products in our home," said Erika Schreder with the Washington Toxics Coalition.

The European Union already banned the chemical, citing evidence that high doses of it causes learning problems in children and reproduction problems in adults. The EU also cited effective and cheap fire resistant alternatives that can be used in place of PBDE.

Now, State Rep. Ross Hunter, D-Medina, wants the state of Washington to follow suit.

"We'd like to cut off the supply for once, before we have a huge disaster to clean up," he said. "The penalties are focused on manufacturers. We're really trying to be reasonable about how we do this, and ban the importation of this."

A bill to ban PBDE was proposed to state lawmakers once before, but it failed to become law.