(FORTUNE Magazine) – The tragedy in Bhopal is bound to shake up U.S. laws governing the chemical industry. Congressional hearings are in full cry on nearly every aspect of handling toxic chemicals. The Reagan Administration's notions that the chemical industry should be left to regulate itself more, which were already beginning to be challenged in Congress, will come under fiercer attack. Some Administration officials worry that Congress will go overboard. Joseph Cannon, an assistant administrator at the Environmental Protection Agency, says, ''This might give an emotional charge to issues that are not relevant to whatever went wrong at Bhopal.'' Many laws deal with chemical safety, and some are in for significant changes. Superfund, the program to clean up hazardous wastes, expires in October. Even before Bhopal, everyone involved--Congress, the EPA, and the chemical companies who ante up most of the money--thought it should be extended. The renewed fund was expected to rise from its current $1.6 billion to around $7 billion. Post Bhopal, it could balloon to as much as $22 billion. Momentum is also likely to build for a similar fund to compensate victims of exposure to harmful chemicals. The law regulating the use of pesticides comes up for renewal in 1985. Prospects for toughening it were practically nil before Bhopal. The disaster will doubtless strengthen the cry for a tougher law even though the chemical that leaked at Bhopal was not a marketable product but a raw ingredient. More directly related is the law that governs the production and use of hazardous chemicals. Congress may well increase the testing required under both acts. The old debate over the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is sure to be reignited. Believing that OSHA had been far too strict, the Reagan Administration cut staff and reduced follow-up plant inspections. Though industrial accidents have declined for three years, unions have continued to charge that safety has been sacrificed. Now they're intensifying their efforts to get laws that would give workers more information about hazardous chemicals they might be exposed to. The incident is sure to strengthen proponents of a proposal to toughen the Clean Air Act. The proposal, brushed aside during the last Congress, would give the EPA one year to decide whether to regulate 33 chemicals. If the EPA didn't meet the deadline, Congress would write its own regulations. What may turn out to be the most pertinent regulation comes under a law signed by Reagan last November. It directs the EPA to take inventory of underground storage tanks that could leak and to draw up rules to be sure they're safely maintained.