Town & Country
Letters to the Editor
Reader Services Department
1700 Broadway, 30th Floor
New York, NY 10019
tnc@hearst.com
Fax: 212-262-7107

Dear Town & Country:

To suggest that dry cleaners are unsafe, as Deirdre Imus did in “How to Clean Up Your Life,” does a great disservice to the tens of thousands of environmentally and safety conscious dry cleaners in the United States, as well as the men and women who make up your readership.

The “links” for perchloroethylene, the solvent used by most dry cleaners, to serious health problems, including cancer, mentioned are tenuous at best. The most probable source for that information is the EPA’s fact sheet on perchloroethylene, which clearly states: “These effects are not likely to occur at levels of perc that are normally found in the environment.”

To set the record straight, the solvents used in drycleaning are not dangerous. With today’s equipment and practices 99.999 percent of the solvent is recycled, and we absolutely feel that all drycleaning is environmentally safe.

Studies have shown that even a heavy garment has virtually undetectable levels of residual perc—less than one drop (1/30th of a millimeter)--after cleaning and pressing.

However, garments will sometimes have an odor resulting from substandard practices, and you should take those garments back to the cleaner.

Imus's concluding suggestion to readers that they air out drycleaning before use is unsubstantiated advice that has been rejected by the EPA.

Sincerely,

William E. Fisher
Chief Executive Officer
Drycleaning & Laundry Institute