A cleaner dry cleaner

Natural Health, March, 2006 by Sarah D. Smith

Dry cleaning may save your sensitive fabrics, but it can be tough on the environment--and your health. Perchloroethylene (perc), used by 85 percent of cleaners, pollutes the air, ground, and water. Once it enters your body, the chemical can cause headaches, skin irritation, and--at high levels of exposure--even cancer.

There are better alternatives, says Peter Sinsheimer, M.P.H., director of the Pollution Prevention Center at Occidental College, though they're not all created equal.

                     What it is                    The verdict

Wet          Steering clear of toxic       The most eco-friendly
cleaning     solvents, this [H.sub.2]O-    alternative to perc is also
             based system uses             the most widely available,
             biodegradable detergent and   with about 3,000 wet
             computerized washers and      cleaners nationwide. The
             dryers. It works on all       process is nontoxic and
             dry-cleanable fabrics when    generally uses less energy
             an experienced wet cleaner    than traditional dry
             is on the job.                cleaning.

C[O.sub.2]   Liquid carbon dioxide, the    No health risks have been
dry          same solvent that removes     reported, and the process
cleaning     caffeine from coffee,         doesn't contribute to
             launders all types of         global warming. But
             dry-clean-only garments.      equipment costs nearly
             The Environmental             twice as much as perc-based
             Protection Agency funded      machines, so these cleaners
             some of the original          can be more expensive and
             research that led to the      harder to find.
             technology.

Silicone     Most commonly found under     A recent study found that
dry          the GreenEarth label, this    silicone DS causes cancer
cleaning     process combines liquid       in rats. Research
             silicone and detergent.       continues, and the
             It's effective for all        potential health problems
             fabrics processed by          are not well understood.
             conventional dry cleaning.