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Dry cleaners steam over plan to ban toxic 'perc'

By Gary Polakovic
Los Angeles Times

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It's called "perc," the smelly solvent your clothes soak in when you take them to the dry cleaners. While it's been removing stains and keeping clothes crisp for nearly 50 years, California air-quality officials aim to send it the way of leaded gasoline with the nation's first proposed ban on the chemical.

The proposal has provoked a furious response from hundreds of cleaners and has consumers such as Laura Boles concerned about how it will affect her clothes, her pocketbook and the mom-and-pop Royalty Cleaners the Los Angeles resident frequents.

"Anything that's good for the environment, I'm in favor of, but I need to know what it's going to cost me," said Boles, hoisting plastic-wrapped shirts into her car. "But I don't want to put the little guys out of business. They have to make a living. It's got to be right for everyone in terms of the environment, small business and cost to the consumer."

Regulators and others say the costs will be negligible and health benefits to workers and people living near dry cleaners will be vastly improved. Each soy stain removed from a blouse or grease smudge lifted from a uniform releases a puff of toxic vapor, an assault on the environment that new technologies would remedy.

Perchloroethylene poses more than one threat to the environment. It is also the No. 1 contaminant of groundwater in Southern California.

Some landlords won't renew leases for dry cleaners because of liability concerns about perc seeping into groundwater.

Southern California air-quality officials want to phase out perc over nearly 20 years. Industry groups from coast to coast are closely watching because steps California takes to clean its dirty skies often are copied nationwide.

"People don't pay very much attention to the risk at dry cleaners. People understand they use some kind of solvent, but the general public is not aware dry cleaners are a problem," said Elaine Chang, deputy executive officer for the South Coast Air Quality Management District.

Perc has been linked to cancer of the kidney, liver and breast. It also affects the central nervous system and can be absorbed through the lungs and into the bloodstream. Breast milk can be contaminated by perc, too.

One recently published study that traced 1,700 dry-cleaner workers found their risk of dying of cancer was 25 percent greater than for other workers, said Avima Ruder, senior research epidemiologist for the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Heath.

A two-year government study identifies perc as one of six major toxic air contaminants in Southern California. Fumes from dry cleaners reaching surrounding neighborhoods pose a cancer risk up to eight times greater than the air district deems acceptable.

Under the proposed regulation, dry cleaners would be prohibited from purchasing perchloroethylene machines after January. In July 2004, all cleaning machines scheduled for replacement would have to switch to an alternative technology. By 2019, perchloroethylene would no longer be permitted for use at dry cleaners across the region.

Opposition to the proposed regulation has been vigorous.

Paul Choe, vice president of the Korean Dry Cleaners Association of Southern California, warns that the regulation "would hurt us badly."

"It's a life-threatening situation," Choe said. "Most cleaners in California are owned by minorities, and those people came to U.S.A. for the American Dream. They've been working hard to support their family and children from the cleaners, but if this law passes, we're going to have to spend a lot of money, and some cleaners won't have money to replace a new machine. Some of them are going to go out of business."

Many dry cleaners point out that some alternative cleaning processes are more expensive, including a machine that uses other solvents but costs as much as $90,000, about 25 percent more than the price for a perc machine.

That substitute also emits vapors that, while not toxic, contribute to smog, according to the air-quality district.

Air-quality officials say the regulation could cost dry cleaners as much as $4.3 million annually, or about $2,525 per dry cleaner, if businesses get the most expensive technology, considered unlikely.

About 51 jobs would be lost annually, and consumers might pay slightly more, according to the air-quality district. The increased consumer prices would be less than a penny on the dollar, it says.

"I think this is a good rule in that it gives time to make the transition. There is technology out there now that is viable," said Robert Gottlieb, director of the Environmental Policy Institute at Occidental College in Los Angeles. A three-year institute study found that new technologies are available that can clean clothes efficiently and inexpensively without using toxic chemicals.

One promising method involves not dry cleaning at all, but "wet cleaning," with water-based cleansers that produce no toxic emissions. Tests show it can cut energy costs by 45 percent, the machines cost less than perchloroethylene machines and they can treat virtually all modern fabrics.

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