The federal government is banning a toxic dry-cleaning chemical, leading people to wonder whether it’s safe to dry clean their clothes.
The chemical in question is perchloroethylene, commonly referred to as PCE or Perc. It causes liver, brain, kidney and testicular cancer, the Environmental Protection Agency says, and can damage your nervous, immune and reproductive systems. The new rule will ban all consumer uses of Perc and many commercial uses.
Perc is used in dry cleaning as well as adhesives and in industrial settings. You can also find it in paint and spot removers, water repellents, glues and suede protectors.
For the average person picking up their dry cleaning and wearing a dry-cleaned suit, the health risks from Perc are small, says Diana M. Ceballos, an assistant professor at the University of Washington in Seattle’s department of environmental and occupational health sciences.
Residue can stick on clothing, vaporize into the air and be inhaled. But those exposures for most consumers “are not super high and they’re sporadic,” she says.
While the ban on Perc isn’t likely to change the dry cleaning habits of Americans, it is part of a broader examination of toxic chemicals. These chemicals have been found in everything from our drinking water to spatulas to carpets, and coincided with rising rates of some cancer—particularly among young people.
Many consumers are now taking a harder look at every added potential carcinogen in or near their body.
In the case of Perc, where you live matters more than whether you dry-clean your clothes. Spills and leaks from dry-cleaning businesses can contaminate drinking water and the air.
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