Environmentalists are battling small businesses to preserve a law that would pull children’s products that may contain lead and chemicals from shelves by next week.

The environmentalists won a round Thursday, when a federal judge overturned a decision by a government commission and said manufacturers and retailers cannot sell children’s products containing “phthalates,” which are chemicals used to soften plastic, after Tuesday.

But small businesses are trying to buy time by asking to postpone the effective date of the law, especially the portion that makes it illegal to sell products that contain more than 600 parts per million of lead.