Findings of a new study have shown that exposure to agricultural pesticides at a small age might put kids at risk of impaired lung capacity later in their life. The findings of the study were published on Thursday in the journal Thorax.

According to the study researchers, kids who get exposed to certain pesticides have similar effects on their lung capacity as those kids exposed to secondhand smoking.

Study’s senior author Brenda Eskenazi, a professor of epidemiology and of maternal and child health at the University of California, Berkeley, said, “This is the first evidence suggesting that children exposed to organophosphates have poorer lung function”.

Researchers for the study collected urine samples from 279 young children between the age of six months and five years. The samples were collected on five different occasions, said researchers.

Researchers tested the samples for organophosphate levels, and after the children turned seven, researchers tested their ability to take and release deep breaths of air. Organophosphates are a class of chemicals found in about three dozen pesticides registered for agricultural use in the US, according to the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

It was found that for every ten times increase in a child’s organophosphate level, there was a decrease of about 8% in the amount of air that a child exhaled.

According to researchers, kids exposed to agricultural pesticides at small age may have a more difficult time being active. It also keeps kids away from getting the proper exercise they need, they added.