Are pool chemicals harmful

Answer 1

Swimming pool fumes in an enclosed area can be dangerous for some people. Those typically affected are either very young, very old, or they have problems such as Asthma or lung cancer. They are not likely to cause death, but they may cause extreme coughing and difficulty breathing.

Answer 2

In short, no. Most pools are treated with chlorine, which can kill you if it is in large quantities. Luckily, the chlorine is diluted to about 2 ppm (parts per million). This concentration will only make your eyes sting, as opposed to the corrosive effects of high concentrations. There are also a few other methods of pool water sanitation, but they also aren't very dangerous. Swimming in the chemicals is safer, generally, then swimming in bacteria infected muck.

Answer 3

Yes, chlorine is a toxic gas that was first used during the First World War as Chemical Weapon, commonly known as mustard gas.

In Swimming Pools, chlorine reacts readily with organic matter such as hair, skin, urine, debris to form organochlorines. These polluting and extremely toxic molecules are commonly known as disinfection byproducts or trihalomethanes (THMs) and are highly carcinogenic. Dose response experiments in animals have shown a direct correlation between the amount of THMs consumed and onset of cancer.

The WHO (world health organization) has limited THMs in drinking water to 100 micrograms per litre. Most chlorine pools exceed this limit by up to 6-fold, mainly in the form of chloroform. In salt water chlorinated pools THM levels greater than 12-fold have been measured, mainly in the form of bromoform. So surprisingly salt water pools contain higher levels of THMs than chlorine pools.

Chlorine and salt chlorinated pools also produce chloramines (that familiar chlorine smell). A recent scientific study showed a clear link between chloramine exposure and the onset of asthma and other Allergies later in life.

Best to avoid chlorine altogether and look for alternative 100% chlorine free systems to sanitise your pool.

Answer 4

Depends on how you harm yourself. If you inhale, ingest, or if the chemicals get in your eyes, it will harm you. If you get it on your external part of skin (no cuts or peeling) then your fine. Don't be frightened if you swallow pool water, it will go right through your urinary system, but if you do swallow to much of the pool water, inhale or ingest the chemicals, call medical help or poison control. If in eyes, flush with warm water, if irritable, get medical help. Please, if you are working with chemicals, read the hazards and... Please keep away from children

Answer 5

If only a little is drank no harm will be done, but if someone were to drink a lot of pool water they might get sick. Some studies say the chemicals in pool water can cause cancer but not enough research has been done on that theory.