Thursday, December 27, 2007

Excess exposure to chlorine makes us sick!

I wondered if swimming in a chlorinated pool could effect someone healing from leukemia so I did a Google search on this search term: chlorine leukemia link. Consequently I was really surprised at the preponderance of evidence linking chlorine exposure to leukemia. (Of course it seems logical since chlorine is a biocide and there is no life form that can stand up against it.)

Here is an National Institute of Health study: [Link]
Medical News Today has some news about a study done on European children [Link]

We have to start using less chlorine in our pools and utilize proven alternatives despite the added costs.

USA Swimming, the United States Masters Association, and we swimmers should push our local communities, our park pools, our colleges and universities to adopt better water filtration systems such as ozone and/or osmosis to purify our water. It may not eliminate the need for chlorine entirely but it would greater reduce our exposure and risks of autoimmune issues.

Here is some posts I wrote last year about ozone based pools and chlorine exposure:

Chlorine pools tied to more colds

Chlorine: Biocide, chemical weapon, used in insecticides, dyestuffs and it plays havoc with skin, hair and possibly our immune systems!

Well known water facilities using ozone to treat their water:

• Disneyland and Disney World for all their water features
• Mirage Resort, Las Vegas
• San Diego Zoo, San Diego, CA for their marine and Aquatic habitats
• Vancouver Aquarium, Vancouver, Canada -for their Sea mammal support systems

I have been swimming at the the Santa Monica College pool that primarily uses osmosis and chlorine to filtrate it's water. I have notice that I have suffered fewer illnesses this year as a result.

1 comment:

Scott said...

Now we just have to convince those bureaucrats that the cost is worth it. Very interesting to learn there's an established link between chlorine and leukemia - one hopes this is common knowledge in the pool industry and swimming community at large. And I'm glad to hear Jim is recovering nicely.