Chlorine Chemicals in Swimming Pool Send Children to the Hospital

Thursday, July 31, 2008 by: David Gutierrez, staff writer
Tags: chlorine, health news, Natural News

(NaturalNews) More than 20 people were taken to the hospital after being exposed to dangerously high levels of chlorine at a Chicago-area swimming pool.

Roughly 200 people were at the New Mayan Adventure water park in the Holiday Inn Chicago-Elmhurst on Jan. 21, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, including dozens of children who had the day off from school. At approximately 1:15 p.m., children began vomiting, coughing, bleeding from the nose and fainting.

Eighteen ambulances were sent to collect 22 people who showed signs of chemical burns around their mouths and eyes. Six of the patients were also experiencing more dangerous symptoms of chlorine exposure.

More than half of those taken to the hospital were children.

Authorities said they would investigate the cause of the incident, which was probably either a chemical leak in the chlorination equipment or swimming pool that had been treated with too much of the chemical.

Chlorine accidents at swimming facilities are more common than most people realize. On Jan. 15, 10 people were hospitalized after concentrated chlorine spilled into a swimming pool and West Yorkshire, England. Three days earlier, 50 people had to be evacuated from a swimming pool in Canmore, Canada, after a chlorine gas leak caused burns in one man's throat.

"There was a mix-up in the pool," said Canmore Mayor Ron Casey. "Someone handling chlorine had inadvertently mixed the chlorine with another chemical, which caused a reaction, and so they evacuated the building right away."

On Dec. 21, a fire fighter in Glenbrook, Australia, had to be hospitalized for chemical burns on his feet that he acquired while evacuating a swimming pool due to a chlorine gas leak. The fire fighter had been wearing protective Hazmat clothing, but the gas still managed to seep through his protective shoes and injure his feet.