| Diving is a safe sport enjoyed by millions of
people all over the world. To date, there are no
data suggesting that children of any age are
specifically susceptible to injury through diving.
Nevertheless there remains a small but important
risk of injury or even death with any compressed
air / gas diving.
This risk is magnified when participants are
careless, do not follow instructions, or do not
observe safety precautions at all times -- death
can result from breathing compressed air at a
depth of only one meter, such as in a domestic
swimming pool, followed by breath holding during
return to the surface. Fortunately excellent dive
training is provided by a number of
internationally recognised training organisations,
and this training minimises the chances of injury.
However, the effectiveness of training depends
on the ability of the trainee to appreciate the
risks and to master the intellectual and practical
skills required to avoid injury. In addition
certain medical conditions particularly prevalent
in children, such as asthma, can significantly
increase the chances of serious injury, so that
examination by a medical practitioner -- trained
in diving medicine -- is an essential prerequisite
to diving safety.
No objective standards have yet been developed
to determine the emotional, physical and
intellectual maturity required for safe diving.
Guidelines are, at best, empirical. Therefore,
as commercial pressure encourages training
agencies to introduce younger and younger divers
to the sport, the responsibility falls
increasingly upon parents and individual diving
instructors to make the vital decision regarding
readiness to dive.
Accidental death is always tragic, but death of
a child has an emotive impact that transcends all
rational argument. We are concerned that the
limited number of additional divers gained by
lowering the age limit for diving may be offset by
the adverse consequences of even a single
fatality...
Although lack of data prevents DAN from making
evidence-based recommendations regarding age and
diving, we hope that common sense will prevail.
Dr Frans J Cronje
Executive & Medical Director
Divers Alert Network Southern Africa
Reviewed by: Dr Erich Ritter
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