Researchers at UTMB are asking people, especially mothers or soon-to-be mothers, to limit their exposure to a chemical found in thousands of household items. A mother’s exposure to bisphenol A, a chemical used to make everything from plastic water bottles and food packaging to sunglasses and CDs, may increase the odds that her children will develop asthma, says a new study conducted at UTMB. “The best thing to do at this point is to be cautious to the amount of BPA you’re exposed to,” said researcher Randall Goldblum. Articles in the Times of India and Science Daily detail the findings of the study, which used mice. “We gave BPA in drinking water starting a week before pregnancy, at levels calculated to produce a body concentration that was the same as that in a human mother, and continued on through the pregnancy and lactation periods,” said lead author Terumi Midoro-Horiuti.