Memo calls for phony front groups, spying on activists. Chemical industry's secret plan to attack California's anti-toxics trend.

• Position: Thinking Ecologically

The chemical industry plans to conduct a covert campaign attacking the growing movement in California for more chemical safety testing, with tactics including the creation of phony front groups and spying on activists, according to an internal American Chemistry Council (ACC) memo obtained by Environmental Working Group (EWG).

The memo, available at www.ewg.org, recommends that ACC, the lobbying association for US chemical companies, hire a crisis communications firm that promotes itself as the attack dog of the public relations industry to fight back against California's adoption of laws and regulations that embrace the precautionary principle (PP).

The precautionary principle, a policy that says new chemicals should not be allowed on the market unless they're proven safe, has gained a strong foothold in Europe, and in recent years California has enacted measures applying the principle to several pollutants including, most recently, chemical flame retardants. Despite the fact that two-thirds of the public believes that such protections are in place already, the Bush Administration has opposed their realization here in the US.

The memo warns that the state's embrace of the precautionary principle is a threat to the entire US chemical industry because "California is a bellwether state, and any success enjoyed here could readily spill over to other parts of the country."

It recommends to ACC members that they pay $120,000 a year to Nichols-Dezenhall, a Washington-based firm that hires former FBI and CIA agents, to conduct "selective intelligence gathering ... about the plans, motivations and allies of opposition activists."

The memo says Nichols-Dezenhall would also "create an independent PP watchdog group to act as an information clearinghouse and...