DO pregnant women risk a miscarriage if they spend a lot of time exercising in public swimming pools? 快猫短视频 reported that a team at Imperial College, London, headed by Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, found these pools contained high levels of some by-products of chlorination that have been linked to miscarriage (13 April, p 17). I asked Yvette Cooper, the public health minister, what the Department of Health鈥檚 view is of this matter.
Cooper replied that the Imperial College study measured levels of four trihalomethanes (THMs), which included chloroform, in eight indoor swimming pools in London. It did not, however, attempt to establish any relationship with health outcomes and did not include any data on health. The concentrations of the THMs ranged from about half the maximum permitted in tap water to about two-and-a-half times this. The results were similar to those found in studies from other countries.
She said that many epidemiological studies have looked for a link between chlorination by-products in drinking water and ill effects on pregnant women, and claim to have found such an association. However, the Committee on Toxicity of Chemicals in Food, Consumer Products and the Environment, which advises the government on these matters, warned in 1999 that the evidence is insufficient (). Cooper said she knew of no current epidemiological studies attempting to link exposures to THMs in swimming pools and adverse reproductive outcomes.
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The minister went on to say that The Pregnancy Book given to all first-time mothers advises them on the importance of keeping fit and being active during the pregnancy. Many women find swimming and aqua exercise helpful when they are pregnant because the water supports their weight. Certainly, reasonable physical activity, including swimming, is a good way of relaxing and keeping fit, said Cooper.
My constituents often say that they would like to see more research related to matters of public concern. If a list of such concerns were compiled, then I鈥檓 sure the issue of chlorination and miscarriage would get high billing. CONSTITUENTS often complain to MPs about what they see as the shortcomings of local planning authorities to clear plans for a new hospital, school, port development, sports stadium鈥攐r even a loft extension. Likewise, businesses are forever wanting changes to be made to planning decisions, whether on a new factory development or an inspection schedule, to suit their timescales. The problem is that the number of qualified graduates choosing a career in local planning has declined sharply at a time when the number of planning jobs being advertised is static.
Among the pressing problems is the starting salary for planning staff. The wage for graduate planners in local government stands at between 拢13,000 and 拢15,000 a year, far less than a new graduate can get in the private sector. Sometimes local councils are having to divert resources away from planning services to maintain other performance targets, and the resulting excessive workloads do nothing to curb staff turnover. Small wonder, then, that school-leavers have a poor image of what a career in planning might be like.
A recent study called Resourcing of Local Planning Authorities, which the consultancy Arup Economics and Planning and the Bailey Consultancy prepared for the Department of Transport, Local Government and the Regions, calls for a 27 per cent increase in the number of development control staff. I strongly advise anyone with an interest in this subject to read the report, which is available from DTLR Publications priced 拢22, or at . If the public and businesses are to get the services that they want, and usually deserve, planning needs to be properly funded.