TL: GREENPEACE BRIEFING ON DRYCLEANING CHEMICALS SO: Greenpeace International (GP) DT: November 4, 1991 Keywords: greenpeace reports chemicals toxics chlorinated consumers factsheets solvents alternatives clean production gp / Source: Greenpeace International, Clean Production Campaign November 4, 1991 (GP) DRYCLEANING BRIEFING The problems with Perchloroethylene (tetrachloroethylene) 1. USE of PERC Perc is a common chlorinated solvent: in the USA, for example, it is the most widely used halogenated solvent. In that country alone, 555 million gallons are consumed annually. There 56% is used in dry cleaning and 24% in textile processing industries - e:g: fabric scouring, carrier solvent for fabric finishes and water repellants and sizing and desizing operations. It is used because of its high cleaning power, nonflammability and stability. Other solvent applications include its use in metal degreasing (10%) where it is expected to maintain or increase its market share. Nonsolvent uses of Perc include its use as a chemical intermediate primarily in the production of fluorocarbon F-113. (1) 1.2 DRYCLEANING Perc is the most common drycleaning solvent. Between 70 to 85% of all the 40,000 drycleaners in the USA use Perc. Drycleaning wastes consist of spent solvent contaminated with oil, lint, dirt and detergent. These wastes are generated in the form of distillation residues or spent filter cartridges. Some large dry cleaning operations use solvent recovery systems such as distillation units or steam strippers. A recent study from the University of Bayreuth, Germany (2) showed that this distillation process was the main source of dioxin formation in the sludge residues. All drycleaning machines produced dioxins and results of further studies due the end of this year will attempt to pinpoint the exact method of dioxin formation in the drycleaning process. The International Fabricare Institute estimates that the average facility equipped with the conventional filter cartridge and distillation systems generates 45 gallons of solvent containing waste each month while facilities with secondary recovery systems generate 22 gallons monthly. (3) Much of these residues get thrown out as common domestic waste. Using a cradle to grave analysis Perc as a product involves all the inherent hazards of chlorinated solvents. Recent studies reveal alarming human health effects, particularly related to reproductive hazards. (4) A 1989 study in Finland of 3,000 women showed an increased risk for spontaneous abortions in women who had been exposed to perc at the beginning of their pregnancy with the proportional risk increased three to four times. (5) This was later corroborated by a 1991 study in the United States. (6) Dr Helena Taskinen, the Finnish researcher, has also concluded that the sperm of heavily exposed males will cause their spouses to have a higher risk of miscarriages. Other studies confirm the neurological disorders associated with inhaling organic solvents, such as personality changes, depression, headache and loss of energy. A Swedish study which compared brain scans between exposed and non exposed individuals revealed that brain shrinkage occured in those people exposed to solvents and this would probably result in irreversible symptoms. (7) Perc is regulated in some countries because of its toxicity. The Occupational Health and Safety Administration in California stipulates 25 ppm air concentration for an eight hour work day, 40 hour work week which is an indication of its high toxicity. In the State of California drycleaners have to display a sign warning that Perc is a probable human carcinogen. In the United States five studies of dry cleaning workers have found a significant increase in a number of concerns including cancer of the breast, the kidneys and the cervix. None of these studies has been accepted as absolute proof however, either because the numbers surveyed were too small, or because not enough was known about the subjects to be sure they had been exposed solely to Perc. Stronger evidence appeared, however, when laboratory rats and mice exposed to Perc developed liver cancer. (8) Sweden labels Perc as a carcinogen and recent computer model extrapolations in the USA have put renewed pressure on moves to label it a definite carcinogen. (9) The World Health Organisation (WHO) have set a tentative guideline value for perc in drinking water of 30 ug/l (WHO 1984) to protect human health and the North Sea Ministers' meeting in 1990 (10) listed perc as a priority pollutant both in water and in air. A recent decision by the Swedish EPA has targetted Perc for a phase out programme along with two other chlorinated solvents. Consensus was reached in June to ban methylene chloride, trichloroethylene and perchloroethylene in consumer products: the first two to be phased out before January 1, 1996 with a phase-out date for Perc not established until 'international consultations regarding alternatives' have been done. Due to its volatility, Perc is a common air contaminant. A recent study by the Food and Drug Administration in Washington measured levels of Perc (100 to more than 1000 ppb) in butter bought from stores located next to dry cleaning establishments. This suggests that aerial transport of Perc is occurring in the dry-cleaning process. A parallel study conducted in the Netherlands showed higher levels of Perc in the exhaled breath of people living in the same building above dry-cleaning establishments than common background levels. (11) This is of particular concern because the major human exposure route to Perc and related compounds is via inhaled air. (12) Recent studies have drawn correlations between Perc and forest decline. (13) Degradation products of Perc include chloroacetic acids which are well known phytotoxins. Trichloroacetic acid (TCA) in particular was used as a herbicide in the fifties and sixties. TCA has been found in pine needles in the Black Forest and it is thought that the levels of Perc in the atmosphere, their efficient oxidation to chlorinated aliphatic acids and uptake of the latter by plants is likely to constitute a chronic phytotoxic stress upon montane forest trees exposed to low levels of the common inorganic air pollutants. Perc is a common groundwater contaminant. A report on groundwater contamination in the UK lists Perc as one of four common solvents that pose a risk to groundwater sources. The report states that the number of incidences have increased due to accidental spillage or casual disposal. The report warns that "they are potentially a very serious form of groundwater pollution and even a small spill of a few litres in volume could in theory contaminate many millions of litres of groundwater." (14) As mentioned earlier the recycling of Perc in drycleaning machines produces dioxins which reinforces the fact that recycling of a toxic compound is NOT clean technology. If incinerated these residues will form dioxins and other products of incomplete combustion. A CLEAN ALTERNATIVE? Clothes should be cleaned with natural soap and water. The fashion industry must become accountable for the choice of textiles: it is no longer acceptable to label clothes which advise the wearer to dry clean only. Other commercial options exist. One alternative method dries, vacuums, and steam cleans clothes. Spot removal of stains is done with plant based extracts and all clothes other than heavily greased commercially soiled clothes can be cleaned with this process. (15) References 1. Treatment Technologies for Solvent Containing Wastes. M. Breton et al. Noyes Data Corporation. 1988. Pollution Technology Review. No 149. 2. Fuchs, Towara, Hutzinger et al. PCDD/F in the Dry-Cleaning Process. Universitat Bayreuth, FRG. Organohalogen Compounds 3. 441 1991. 3. Radimsky. Recycling and/or Treatment Capacity for Hazardous Wastes Containing Halogenated Organic Compounds. California Dept. of Health. 1984. 4. Reproductive Hazards Related to Perc: A Review. J.W.J. van de Gulgen and G.A. Zielhuis. International Archive of Occupational Environmental Health. 1989. 61: 235-242. 5. Spontaneous Abortions and Congenital malformations among Women Exposed to Tetrachloroethylene in Drycleaning. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. 1989. 43: 246-251. 6. Exposure to Organic Solvents and Adverse Pregnancy Outcome. Gayle C. Windham. American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 1991. 20: 241-259. 7. Neurotoxic Effects of Organic Solvents in Exposed Workers: an Occupational Neuropsychological and Neurological Investigation. Gregerson. American Journal of Industrial Medicine. 5: 201-225. 8. US EPA Draft Report. Response to Issues and Data Submissions on the Carcinogenicity of Perchloroethylene. Review Draft. EPA/600/6-91/002A. Feb. 1991. 9. Needs for Public Health Intervention and Needs for New Research on Vinyl Halides and their Polymers: A Public Policy Perspective. Env. Health Perspectives. Vol. 41. Pgs 227-231. 1981. 10. MINDEC (1990) Third International Conference on the Protection of the North Sea; Final Declaration of the Third International Conference on the Protection of the North Sea, The Hague, Netherlands. 11. Miller and Uhler. Volatile Halocarbons in Butter - Elevated Tetrachloroethylene Levels in Samples Obtained in Close Proximity to Dry-Cleaning Establishments. Bull. Environ. Contam. Toxicol. 1988 41:469-474. 12. McKone, T.E. (1987) Human exposure to volatile organic compounds in household tapwater: the indoor inhalation pathway. Environ. Sci. Technol. 21(2): 1194-1201. 13. Frank, H. (1991). Airborne chlorocarbons, photooxidants, and forest decline. AMBIO 20(1): 13-18 14. Lawrence, A.R. & Foster, S.S.D. (1987) The Pollution threat from agricultural pesticides and industrial solvents: a comparative review in relation to British aquifers. Hydrogeological Report of the British Geological Survey 87/2, 30 pp. 15. Ecoclean. US Office. 2200 W. Glades Road, Boca Raton, Florida 33431. UK Office PO Box 2287. London SW4 [Greenbase Inventory December 30, 1991 ] =======##=======