Asthma and baby swimming

In January 2011, the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) released a notice about baby swimming and disinfection byproducts in swimming pools linked to the press release Baby swimming: Asthma risk from disinfection with chlorine? For children under two years of age who have a family disposition for allergies, for the time being baby swimming is not recommended." This publication renewed the debate on the possible health effects of baby swimming as well as of higher incidences of asthma later in life in both paediatric specialist circles as well as in public media. In September 2011, the UBA published through another commission an opinion on the health assessment of trichloramine in the air of indoor swimming pools which reveals a contrary estimation for health risks. The two releases as well as their cited substantiations were in the following analysed by the "WAG Environmental Medicine" of the "Society of Paediatric Allergy and Environmental Medicine". Additionally UBA's POOL project is presented and finally an own assessment of the health risk from a paediatric-pneumonological and allergological point of view is presented, which was adopted by the professional committees. Therefore a toxicologically acceptable limit for the disinfection byproduct trichloramine of 0.2 mg/m(3) air should be achieved countrywide in Germany. As long as this is not achieved paediatricians should individually advise high-risk families and infants already allergically diseased to restraint in baby swimming during the check-ups U4 - U7.