I am 47years old and have returned to swimming as a fitness choice. I get 3 workouts of 2500yds/week and feel great. I also have an inground pool that my family enjoys in the summer months. My question relates to the long term consequences of chlorine exposure. Do studies exist that show whether swimmers have an increased health risk to cancers? Has anyone looked at pool chlorine exposure as a health risk in any way? The pools I swim in all use chlorine as a sanitizer and I would hate to think my exercise regimen may be doing me more harm than good!
Parents
Former Member
I too saw the Washington Post article and was concerned by it since I live hear and drink that water. I'm not a chemist but from my understanding it was referring to chlorination byproducts that are the result of the chlorine in water mixing with organic nutrients, e.g. fertilizer runoff in the Potomac River in the summer time. They pump in more chlorine to deal with the contaminants and the byproduct levels can get high. It's seasonal and local and has been implicated in a lawsuit by a group of Virginia women who had miscarriages. I think the chlorine in and of itself was not factor in the miscarriages. So as long as pool water isn't similarly contaminated, it shouldn't be a problem for swimmers.
I too saw the Washington Post article and was concerned by it since I live hear and drink that water. I'm not a chemist but from my understanding it was referring to chlorination byproducts that are the result of the chlorine in water mixing with organic nutrients, e.g. fertilizer runoff in the Potomac River in the summer time. They pump in more chlorine to deal with the contaminants and the byproduct levels can get high. It's seasonal and local and has been implicated in a lawsuit by a group of Virginia women who had miscarriages. I think the chlorine in and of itself was not factor in the miscarriages. So as long as pool water isn't similarly contaminated, it shouldn't be a problem for swimmers.
