E/The Environmental Magazine

letters@emagazine.com

The week of December 12, 2004 you published an Earth Talk question that addressed health and safety concerns related to solvents in drycleaning. The answer erroneously leads a reader to conclude that perchloroethylene is unsafe and does a great disservice to the tens of thousands of environmentally and safety conscious dry cleaners in the United States. With today’s practices and equipment, in which 99.999 percent of the solvent is recycled, we absolutely feel that all drycleaning is environmentally safe.

While E cites short-term perc exposure effects to include nausea, etc., the EPA’s own fact sheet cited at the end of the article states, “These effects are not likely to occur at levels of perc that are normally found in the environment” and “[It] is not likely to cause environmental harm at levels found in the environment.” The EPA has also stated that perc does not contribute to smog formation, deplete stratospheric ozone layors, or contribute to the greenhouse effect.

Some history: the EPA classified perc as a “possible human carcinogen” in the late 1970s along with any product that caused cancer when fed in large doses to rodents. Since then, not only has the scientific community challenged the validity of human conclusions based on rodent testing, but the U.S. EPA’s Science Advisory Board (an independent panel of experts appointed by EPA) stated in their review of perc that “[EPA’s classification of perchloroethylene]...amply demonstrates why the classification system needs to be overhauled.” Finally, EPA itself acknowledges that there may be no additional risk from perc.

Furthermore, the results of a completed but yet-to-be-released study of more than 7,000 drycleaning workers exposed to perc in four Scandinavian countries “do not appear to raise concern regarding perchloroethylene exposure,” according to the study’s sponsor, the Halogenated Solvents Industry Alliance. Those results should be made public later this year after undergoing full peer review.

Even though the current evidence strongly suggests that perc is not a human carcinogen, it is worth noting the industry has nonetheless voluntarily reduced perc consumption by more than 90 percent over the last 25 years. As reported by the EPA, the average outdoor concentration of perc in urban areas is 0.8 parts per billion, 30,000 times less than what’s permitted by OSHA for employee exposures.

Sincerely,

William E. Fisher
Chief Executive Officer
Drycleaning & Laundry Institute