By Todd Hymas

Some California lawmakers are suggesting a program to monitor and catalog chemicals in the bodies of state residents. Senate Bill 1379 would create the nation's first statewide bio-monitoring program to study levels of chemical contamination in blood, urine, fatty tissue, or breast milk.

Essentially, it's a state-specific version of the CDC's National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals.

Predictably, powerful forces are aligning against it, fearing an educated, informed, environmentally aware public. And the bill's preamble explicitly makes the connection between environment and disease, a too-direct linkage for some sectors.

More than 100,000 chemicals are registered for use in the United States, but fewer than one in 10 have been tested for effects on human health, SB 1379 states in its preamble. About 125 million Americans suffer from a chronic disease - from cancer to asthma - and "mounting evidence links incidence and severity of these diseases to exposure to environmental toxicants," the bill adds.

California Gov. Schwarzenegger vetoed a similar bill last year.

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