POOL WATER RISKY DURING PREGNANCY
A recent study, published in Occupational and Environmental Medicine, suggests that swimming pools may be hazardous for pregnant women and their unborn child.
According to British researchers, levels of trihalomethanes (THMs), a chemical by-product of chlorine, were found to be very high in chlorinated swimming pools.
Chlorine, when added to water, reacts with organic matter in the water, (such as skin cells, lotion and other body care products), to form by-products, including THMs. In recent years, concerns have increased that THMs may be linked with reproductive problems.
“Miscarriage, low birth weight, neural tube defects, urinary tract defects and others, have been associated with exposure to THMs,” according author of the study, Mark J. Nieuwenhuijsen, PhD, and environmental sciences researcher at Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, in London.
Nieuwenhuijsen tested the water in eight indoor swimming pools, taking samples once a week for a three-week period, noting water temperature and the number of people in the pool at the time the sample was taken. Tap water was sampled for comparison.
Results showed relatively high concentrations of THMs in the pools. THM levels were especially high when more people were swimming and the water was more turbulent. THM levels also increased as the pool’s water and air temperature rose.
Previous studies have shown that a one-hour swim in a chlorinated pool could result in a THMdose 141 times higher than from taking a shower and 93 times higher than from drinking a glass of tap water.
Swimmers are at an even greater risk, because THMs can be absorbed through the skin and inhaled from the air around the pool.
More to come and please feel free to share this information with your friends.
Dr. Stern!
