More PCE Phase-Out News

Tuxedo rental company Selix Formalwear settled a lawsuit last week with Oakland-based Center for Environmental Health (CEH) requiring the firm to phase out use of PCE at its Hayward, California facility. The settlement resulted from a March 2004 lawsuit that raised concerns about Selix workers being exposed to potentially cancer-causing PCE emissions. According to CEH, Selix has agreed to eliminate one of its two PCE cleaners by mid-2006, and eliminate all PCE emissions from the facility by the end of 2008.

Until that date, the company will place statements warning that PCE is "known to cause cancer" on dry cleaning bags (note: they should have been doing this already – PCE is listed under Proposition 65 - maybe this was a Prop 65 suit; I'm still trying to find the legal opinion), in mailings to neighbors, and at a noticeable location at the Hayward facility.

Selix wasn’t returning calls to the press, which was a bit strange. This would have been a great opportunity for them to reframe this as a forward-looking green move on their part, even if they had to be clubbed into it through litigation.