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February 2007 - Cleaning Your Clothes                                         

During summer our clothes get dirty more often due to increased perspiration and the dirt of the outdoors. A trip to the cleaners will fix that…right?

Let’s take a closer look at those freshly cleaned clothes you’re bringing home. Traditionally we’ve had our soiled clothes professionally laundered or dry-cleaned. We’ve been doing that since ancient times.

Lye and ammonia were first used as cleansing agents later to be followed by petroleum-type fluids such as camphene, benzene, kerosene and gasoline. You can imagine how dangerous dry cleaning was until safer solvents were developed. Percholoroethylene (a mouthful) or “perc”, a nonflammable solvent, was introduced in the 1930’s and is used extensively today (by approximately 90 % of dry cleaners).

Recent studies by the EPA and Canada’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health show perc can damage the central nervous and reproductive systems and is also a suspected carcinogen. Dr. Laurine Brown, with a masters in public health from Boston University, writes, “ short term exposure to perc can cause dizziness, fatigue, headaches and unconsciousness”. She continues by saying “people who wear freshly dry cleaned clothes register traces of perc, as does their home’s air even one week after hanging cleaned clothes in the closet.”

There is an option to dry cleaning …wet cleaning. Prevalent in Europe and now available in the United States, wet cleaning involves high tech washing and drying machines that use soap and water to clean clothes. The greatest concern of washing natural fibers is shrinkage. The computer-controlled machinery used in the process prevents shrinkage by regulating the water temperature, level of agitation and the drying temperature.

How does wet cleaning compare to dry cleaning? Recent tests by the EPA’s Dry cleaning Partnership show garments wet cleaned were rated equal or better in appearance and cleanliness than items dry cleaned.

Ask your cleaners if they offer wet cleaning or check with your county cleaners association (you’ll find them in the business pages of your phone book) for a list of establishments who offer wet cleaning.

Now go out and enjoy a cleaner and safer summer.

hansherman