Swimming Pool Chemicals Send Thousands to ERs, CDC Says

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Each year thousands of Americans are injured by the chemicals designed to keep swimming pools safe, a new government report finds.

In 2012, 4,876 people landed in the emergency room after being injured by pool chemicals, researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate.

Nearly half of these preventable injuries were in children under 18 and more than a third occurred at a private home. The most common reason for the ER visit was poisoning, which usually happens when someone inhales chemicals such as chlorine.

“We need these pool chemicals to prevent the spread of germs,” Michele Hlavsa, chief of the CDC’s Healthy Swimming Program, told NBC News. “We just need to use them more safely. These injuries are preventable.”

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