No, The Pool’s Chlorine Won’t Hurt You

Writing in the New York Times, Karen Weintraub tells a concerned reader not to worry about the chlorine in swimming pools. Weintraub quotes Lindsay Blackstock, a doctoral student in analytical and environmental toxicology at the University of Alberta in Canada who recently authored an article about chemicals in swimming pools and who assures readers that the germ-killing benefits of chorine far outweigh any longterm exposure risks. She also reports that Blackstock’s research found that 31 of the 31 swimming pools tested contained an artificial sweetener that could have gotten there only through people peeing in the pool.