Evidence Of Chlorine-Asthma Link Deemed Inconclusive

by Scott Webb January 24, 2012 9:39 AM

Over the past decade, concerns have been raised about the effect of chlorine on swimmer health. Perhaps most notably, a team led by Dr. Alfred Bernard, research director at the National Fund for Scientific Research and professor at the Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium, has published several papers suggesting a link between attendance at chlorinated swimming pools and childhood asthma.

In response, The Belgian Superior Health Council has recently issued a scientific opinion that the papers do not provide sufficient evidence to make the link between 
pool attendance and asthma.

The Health Council reexamined the full set of publications done by the Bernard team, and identified flaws in the performed study descriptions and noted that the results were not confirmed by other researchers.
The Health Council deemed the research valuable, but inconclusive. 

In summary, the Health Council wrote, “A relationship between swimming pool attendance and childhood asthma has not been confirmed, but cannot yet be excluded.”

It is the position of AQUA magazine that more scientific investigation is needed both on the potential health risks of swimming in chlorinated pools and the health benefits of regular aquatic exercise and hot tub use.

 



Scott Webb has been with AQUA magazine in one capacity or another since April 2001; he now serves as executive editor. Scott has a degree from University of Cincinnati in Aerospace Engineering and lives in Madison, Wisc.

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Comments (2) -

1/24/2012 12:50:34 PM #

My entire working life, im now 65 , has been in the swim pool et al , chemistry, teaching swimming, scuba, and service for pools and the air handling equipment..... There is no doubt that the air handling of indoor pools has suffered in quality mainly due to the price of energy.  The water itself does not have anything to do with asthma.  Indeed many , who have suffered with asthma have had their lives vastly improved with swimming breath control.  When I enter a pool area and my eye membrane is irritated , I know the chemistry is not complete.  It follows that if it can irritate you eye membrane that it could irritate other membranes , including your skin and lung tissue.  Yes, more needs to be observed . When I first started swimming , many hours a day , for many years, eye ware was scarce , however most swimming in pools is done with such things, and I believe in public pools the chemistry has suffered because of the isolation of the eyes...... wheather the pool chemistry is good or not so good. I might follow that the lungs cant have the same isolation.....

patrick venton

1/26/2012 2:58:24 PM #

In ref to chlorine asthma if someone gets a good wiff of chlorine and there lungs shut down from the inhalation could that contribute to chlorine asthma, this has nothing to do with swimming.

Skip Harwood

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