MONTPELIER, Vt. — The Vermont House on Wednesday gave final approval to a bill to protect children from exposure to toxic chemicals, and Democratic Gov. Peter Shumlin said he supports the idea.

The House voted 120-22 to support a measure scaling back a Senate version that would give the health commissioner the power to require warning labels or to ban consumer products containing certain chemicals, instead focusing the measure on products used by children 12 and under.

“We’ve been waiting since the 1980s for the federal government to update the Toxic Substances Control Act,” the main federal law governing consumer exposure to chemicals, said Rep. David Deen, D-Westminster, the lead sponsor of the bill.

The Environmental Protection Agency has taken regulatory action on about 200 of the 84,000 chemicals in commercial use, and states are starting to step up to fill the gap, he said.

The Vermont bill adopts a list of 66 chemicals identified by Washington state as being of concern and sets up a working group to advise the health commissioner on possible additions to the list. Decisions would be reviewed by a legislative committee.

California and Maine also have passed laws seeking to regulate children’s exposure to toxins.

Deen said Vermont in recent years has passed laws to regulate individual substances and reduce exposures to lead, mercury and lab-designed chemicals used in plastic water bottles and baby toys.

“This is a new step for Vermont. We need to give the Department of Health some time to be able to set up a system,” he said of reducing the scope of the Senate version.

The House amended the bill to add a provision suggested by Rep. Patti Komline, R-Dorset, to require child-resistant caps on vials of the nicotine-laced liquid used in electronic cigarettes.

Rep. Mark Higley, R-Lowell called the bill too burdensome on businesses and said that the regulation of toxic chemicals would be better left to the federal government.

Shumlin usually tries to avoid publicly taking sides between the House and the Senate. But on Wednesday he indicated he preferred the House version.

“I want a bill that gets dangerous poisons out of Vermont when kids are being exposed to them,” he said, “and I think the House did a good job on that.”