No Surprise Here

My statement that PCE use in dry cleaning is probably the most significant source of human exposure for this compound drew the attention of the TCE Blog. They wondered about the contribution from emissions from industrial facilities:

Is that claim true (that dry cleaning is probably the most significant source of human exposure for this compound)? What about PCE used by manufacturers? We have no idea how these exposures compare, just wondering aloud for now because the comment struck us.

This is something that has been known for a long time, based on work from the EPA’s Total Exposure Assessment Methodology (TEAM) study, conducted in the 1980s. The TEAM study was probably some of the best exposure research conducted at the time (in some ways, still is). It questioned the conventional wisdom regarding exposures and health risks from toxic air pollutants, concluding that smoking and passive smoking, visiting the dry cleaners, refueling a motor vehicle, mobile source emissions and various occupations, were more significant contributors to personal exposure to volatile organic compounds than residential proximity to emissions from chemical plants, petroleum refineries, petrochemical plants, drycleaners and service stations. The EPA version of the report is hard to find, but the report on the work in California can be found here.

Besides, you just have to take one look at the TOXMAP to see that the some 27,000 dry cleaners more readily bring people into contact with PCE than industrial emission sources. Finally, if that isn’t convincing, look at this study which measured the exposures of the neighbors of dry cleaners.

Hopefully this answered the mail.