BARCELONA, Spain, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- Swimming in chlorinated indoor pools can cause DNA damage, but researchers in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands say they don't suggest not swimming.
Manolis Kogevinas, co-director of the Center for Research in Environmental Epidemiology, and colleagues at the Research Institute Hospital del Mar, the Higher Council for Scientific Research, Hospital Clinic de Barcelona, Universidad Autonoma de Barcelona and scientists from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands, say the study is an exhaustive investigation of disinfection by-products and mutagenicity ability -- to cause permanent DNA mutations -- in water samples collected from two indoor pools.
The disinfection by-products from pools are the result of the reactions between the water disinfectants found in chlorine pools and organic matter introduced by swimmers through sweat, skin cells and urine.
Despite the results, which require more research, Kogevinas says the positive health impacts of swimming can be increased by reducing the levels of chemicals used in pools.
"In no case do we want to stop (people) swimming, but to encourage the reduction of chemicals in swimming pools," Kogevinas says.
The study is published in the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.
