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An agreement between the Environmental Protection Agency and manufacturers of a flame retardant would phase out the toxic chemical's production by 2013, but a Prince George's delegate is pushing a ban that would take effect two years earlier than the federal measure.

The chemical, known as decabromodiphenyl ether or decaBDE, is used in plastics for television cabinets, consumer electronics, wire insulation, back coatings for draperies and upholstery, textiles, automobiles, airplanes and construction materials.

"Studies have shown that decaBDE persists in the environment, potentially causes cancer and may impact brain function," Steve Owens, an EPA assistant administrator, said in statement announcing the agreement on Thursday. "DecaBDE also can degrade to more toxic chemicals that are frequently found in the environment and are hazardous to wildlife."

The agreement signed by the EPA, chemical producers Albemarle Corp. and Chemtura Corp., and the largest U.S. importer of decaBDE, ICL Industrial Products Inc., would end the production, importation and sale of the chemical for most uses in the United States by Dec. 31, 2012, and end all uses by the end of 2013.

The federal action follows efforts by states, including Maryland, to ban the chemical.

Those efforts won't stop, said Del. James W. Hubbard, who has introduced bills in 2008 and 2009 to ban the chemical's use in Maryland. Each passed the House, but died in a Senate committee.

"Memorandums can be changed," Hubbard (D-Dist. 23A) of Bowie said of the federal agreement. "So, I think a lot of states are going to move forward statutorily."

Hubbard has prefiled a bill for the 2010 General Assembly that would ban the use of decaBDE in products or flame-retardant components of products sold in Maryland beginning in 2011.

"There are safer alternatives that can be and are being used by some manufacturers today," Hubbard said, adding that his bill requires that alternatives be scientifically proved to be safer than decaBDE by scientists with the EPA and the Maryland Department of the Environment.

"EPA did not go that far, and a lot of the states, including my bill in Maryland, are going to go that far," said Hubbard, who in 2008 was the lead House sponsor of legislation that banned lead in children's toys and other products.

Jenny Levin, an environmental health associate with consumer advocacy group Maryland PIRG, praised the EPA agreement as a "huge victory for public health and the environment."

"People trust that products manufactured and sold in the United States are safe, but chemicals like decaBDE indicate otherwise," Levin said in a statement. "Scientific studies indicate decaBDE's neurological and reproductive health effects may already be impacting human health and wildlife. Alternatives are available. We applaud this phase-out."