Do chlorinated pools cause asthma?

Asthma and chlorinated pools: Simon Owens is on it and not only does he have his own blog called Bloggasm, he's a blogger for PBS’s MediaShift which tells you two things: One, he is more credible than I am and two, he's a better speller.

No seriously, he has written a very serious article about the supposed link between asthma and chlorine and we both share the same concerns regarding its credibility. Here is a snippet from his article posted to the Asthma Mom Blog:

The first group of studies focused on elite athletes — typically at the Olympic level — and analyzed the percentage of those with asthma in each sport. The studies found that there is a significantly higher percentage of elite swimmers who have asthma compared to athletes in other sports. But Goodman said this could be an example of “reverse causation” in which asthmatics are simply more likely to participate in swimming because it is perceived as having a lower risk of triggering an asthmatic attack.

“It provides some suggestive evidence that asthma is more commonly found among swimmers,” he said. “But I think this study would be hard pressed to conclude that there’s any evidence that swimming causes asthma in previously healthy individuals.”

[Link]