All News Releases By Date

CLARIFICATION ON PERCHLOROETHYLENE

Release Date: 4/19/1996
Contact Information: Bill Glenn, U.S. EPA Office of Public Affairs, (415) 744-1589

                             Clarification

In a March 6 news release about streamlining federal and California regulation of emissions from
dry cleaners, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency referred to perchloroethylene, the
predominant solvent used in dry cleaning, as a probable human carcinogen.  While the state of
California has classified perchloroethylene as a probable human carcinogen, U.S. EPA's Science
Advisory Board currently considers perchloroethylene as being on a continuum between possible
and probable carcinogenicity.  Further studies are being conducted in an effort to yield a more
definitive understanding of perchloroethylene's chronic human health effects.