VOTE NEAR ON DRY-CLEANING STAPLE COMMONLY USED CHEMICAL TOO DANGEROUS, CRITICS SAY.

Byline: Kerry Cavanaugh Staff Writer

Air-quality regulators may vote today on a proposed ban of perchloroethylene, a suspected cancer-causing chemical used by most dry cleaners.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District governing board considered the proposed ban and listened to concerns from dry cleaners and environmentalists at its Nov. 1 meeting, then continued the issue until today.

Dry cleaners have argued that their industry is being held to a higher standard than other polluting industries. Dry cleaners have put their own proposal on the table, which would allow them to keep using perchloroethylene but require them to switch to other methods in five years. That would reduce emissions of perchloroethylene, or perc, by 140 tons per year.

But air-quality agency regulators are still pushing to phase out the chemical in dry cleaning by 2019. That would require 2,200 dry cleaners to switch to a new cleaning method at a cost of roughly $4.3 million a year for the industry. But it would cut perc emissions by 850 tons per year.

The agency is the first in the nation to propose banning perc in dry cleaning. The chemical has been an industry mainstay for the last half-century and is prized for removing greasy stains without damaging delicate fabrics.

``There have been at least 10 methods that have come and gone that were supposed to be the holy grail and were going to replace perc,'' said Sandra Giarde, executive director of the California Cleaners Association.

No other chemical or method has stood the test of time, she said.

Air regulators and environmentalist argue that perc emissions are just too dangerous. The chemical has been linked to nerve damage, reproductive difficulties, birth defects and higher rates of cancer in dry-cleaning workers.