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US scientists have brought into being that harmful compounds can be created in swimming pools and hot tubs due to the reaction of chlorine and other chemicals to sun-tan lotion, urine, and sweat. According to Medical News Today, these hidden dangers brought about by the combination could be a great health risks for gene mutation as mentioned in the findings recently published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Study co-author Susan D. Richardson, of the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of South Carolina acknowledged the established fact that that chlorine and other substances used to sanitize pools and hot tubs as an act of response react to carbon-based matter like urine and sweat produce disinfection byproducts (DBPs).

These DBPs have been proven in previous research to generate impairment of cells which has lead Richardson and her colleagues to venture in questioning on how these byproducts can rework the DNA structure of an organism as well as how it will upsurge the danger of genetic mutations.

"Although disinfection is important to inactivate harmful pathogens, adverse health effects associated with exposure to DBPs, such as asthma and bladder cancer, have been noted in human epidemiologic studies," Richardson and her co-authors pointed out in their research.

In their research for mutagenicity, the authors evaluated water samples from swimming pools and hot tubs taken from various locations in the United States which were sanitized with chlorine, bromine, ozone, or ozone-chlorine.

The samples which amounted to 28 were in a state of being in a before and after concentrated usage.

The researchers recognized more than 100 DBPs from the pool and hot tub samples, and extracts of these DBPs were tested for their mutagenicity.

They related these findings with the available tap water in the vicinity used for the pools and the hot tubs which was also studied for the research as it permitted them to regulate how the disinfectants respond to the user substances which upset the mutagenicity of the DBPs.

The swimming pools registered 2.4 times more mutagenic DBP samples while the hot tub presented 4.1 times more mutagenic samples.