I’m glad that chlorine has saved many folks from around the world from water-born infectious diseases. But, after being around chlorine for 39-too many years, I’m allergic to it. Ask my wife what happens when she tosses some bleach in with her laundry. It’s not pretty. The sheets and towels are white, and so am I–pale white from a chlorine-allergy dotted with lovely red spots up and down my body. This is one of the reasons why I think the Riptide Pool Disinfection System (TM) www.riptidealchemy.com is the all-that for pool sanitization. I can even show that it’s excellent for commercial pools too.
But this is not about my allergy, this is some recently released news about chlorinated pools and childhood allergies. Read on:
BRUSSELS, BELGIUM — Swimming in an outdoor or indoor chlorinated pool has more impact than secondhand smoke in increasing the chances that a child susceptible to asthma and allergies will develop those problems, according to a new study, Reuters Health reported September 15.
Dr. Alfred Bernard, a toxicologist at the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels, told Reuters Health, “These new data clearly show that by irritating the airways of swimmers, chlorination products in water and air of swimming pools exert a strong additive effect on the development of asthma and respiratory allergies such as hay fever and allergic rhinitis.”
Bernard added, “The impact of these chemicals on the respiratory health of children and adolescents appears to be much more important — at least by a factor of five — than that associated with secondhand smoke.”
The researchers found that the risk of asthma and allergy was not influenced by swimming in pools sanitized with a concentration of copper and silver and that children without allergic tendencies were not at increased risk of developing allergies in those pools.
The researchers said the current findings “reinforce” the need for further study on the issue and to enforce regulations concerning the levels of these chemicals in water and air of swimming pools, Reuters Health reported.
Pool & Spa Master 