Bisphenol A, commonly known as BPA, the chemical used in plastics universally, can increase the risk of asthma in school-age girls. These findings can be attributed to a study of around 3,000 pairs of mothers and children from six European countries. Although initially confusing in the regard of sex specifics, BPA is technically a synthetic estrogen, meaning it very closely resembles the natural chemical structure of estrogen.

In the womb, during the development of the child, hormones play an immense role in the shaping of the baby’s health. Dr. Leonardo Trasande, director of environmental pediatrics at NYU Langone Health, had several possible outlooks into the situation. One of which he claims to be: “when a baby is growing in utero, the lung buds are shaped by a host of factors of which sex hormones are one, so if there’s an imbalance of sex hormones induced, for example, by an exogenous estrogen like BPA, that could be part of the story.”

BPA exposure is somewhat difficult to avoid, however there are a multitude of ways to avoid it on your day-to-day basis. Avoiding plastics in general is your best bet; when you put plastics to heat, they tend to release more of these harmful chemicals, so it’s best to avoid heating them by either microwave or dishwashers. Either way, the safety of these chemicals is not as dangerous as it sounds, and several reforms already exist to ensure consumer health.