I am pleased that Americans are finally looking at alternatives to perc including wetcleaning and liquid carbon dioxide cleaning. These have been used for many years in England with satisfactory results.

Perc has been shown to cause cancer in rats and mice, and in 1995 the International Association for Research on Cancer labeled perc as probably carcinogenic to humans. In addition to this, workers at drycleaners have long been known to have elevated risks of several cancers, especially cancer of the esophagus.

Regardless of whether wearing clothes that have been drycleaned with perc put us at risk, we are placing those workers at risk simply to have our clothes cleaned.

A Website is available which lists places in the U.S. where wetcleaners and liquid carbon dioxide cleaners are available by state. This can be found at http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/garment/gcrg/cleanguide.pdf

Lynne Eldridge M.D.
Author “Avoiding Cancer One Day at a Time”
http://www.avoidcancernow.com