Most people see swimming as a form of relief or exercise, but a new study is proving that swimming in indoor pools, can cause cancer. The chlorine that is commonly used in indoor swimming pools, can induce genotoxicity, which are DNA damages that can lead to cancer, and they can cause respiratory problems. But the good thing, is that this can be easily changed, if we change the cholorine and types of cleaning liquids that are commonly used in pools, then the genotoxicity can be knocked out. Many disinfection by-products (DBP) are common in almost all indoor swimming environments. The DBP's include disinfectants like chlorine, and organic matter, matter that is either naturally made and grown in the pool, or matter that introduced by humans (urine, sweat, skin cells, etc.). Over 50% of people sampled, after swimming in an indoor pool has some type of genotoxicity, which can potentially lead to bladder cancer, other types of cancer, and sickness from ingesting pool water.
I think that we need to make sure that all pool water is cleaned thoroughly every day, and we need to make new environmentally friendly pool chemicals that will kill the bad types of DBP's, so that humans will not get sick or die from the diseases found in pools.
Pools can be a lot of fun, but with the potential to be deadly, we need to make sure we protect the people first.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/12/100913163502.htm
This is amazing, since for the most part, I swim in a least one indoor swimming pool every summer. In a way, it's scary to think that swimming can hurt you, even lead to cancer. I believe if there is a simple way to make them safe and protect those who swim, there is no reason not to take those extra steps. I know that children often swallow a lot of water while swimming which seems to be very dangerous and makes me worry about my niece and little sister. The facts are all here, so there is nothing stopping a new, safer change using chemicals to kill those that hurt us. The answer to this problem is a very obvious one when it comes to saving people's lives!
ReplyDeleteThat's crazy! I swim in indoor pools all the time and I always loved them when I was younger. My senior project was about hidden chemicals in food and other products that human beings know nothing about. This is a perfect example of that! I completely agree, there should obviously be some sort of regulation on the chemical use.
ReplyDeleteI've never thought about this, but the smell is horrible right when you walk in the doors! Its scary to think that a pool can hurt you, when I think of swimming I think of it as good exercise for my body! I'm glad we can change the chemicals to make the pool more "healthy."
ReplyDeleteI always thought public swimming pools were gross but I didn't know they were this bad! It's scary to think that something we do every day during the summer for fun can be so harmful. Little kids are forever in swimming pools so I definitely think something should change with the chemicals we use in pools so that we aren't harmed by something so simple.
ReplyDeleteThis is crazy, people are constantly swimming in indoor pools for numerous reasons, and not to mention... professional athletes compete in them. If indoor pools are harmful to a human beings health, they should rid of the potentially deadly chemicals. If our society is capable of making such high tech electronics, I believe it is possible to make a healthier chlorine for indoor pools.
ReplyDeleteI honestly think that people are sitting down at meetings and saying "What's the next thing we could say causes cancer?" Deoderant, artificial sweeteners, and now swimming pools? This is a little extreme. Although, I do agree with thoroughly cleaning the pools everyday because it's a little disgusting not to. And believe it or not, a lot of pools don't do that daily.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Kim. Lately everything seems to "cause cancer" somehow. Pools need to be cleaned on a daily basis because if you are swimming in a dirty pool full of urine, sweat, and dead skin, then you are much more likely to get sick from that than cancer farther down the road.
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