Chemical pollution tied to fossil fuel operations poses serious risks to human health, warns a new analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Wednesday.

Citing data from dozens of studies, the report points to an alarming rise in neurodevelopmental issues, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease, and certain cancers in young people taking place amid what the paper’s author calls “explosive growth” in the petrochemical industry. Between 1990 and 2019, rates of certain cancers in people under 50 increased dramatically. Meanwhile, fossil fuel use and petrochemical production have increased fifteen-fold since the 1950s, according to the report.

“One of the major factors driving climate change is also increasing our exposures to chemicals that are adversely impacting health,” said the report’s author, Tracey Woodruff, a professor at the University of California San Francisco (UCSF). “Typically people say cancer is a disease of the aging, but now we’re seeing it increasing in people under 50.”

The report points to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs), chemicals commonly found in plastics and other products that interfere with healthy hormonal function, as a key threat.