This clip was taken from the film, More Dangerous Than Dynamite, produced and by the California State Fire Marshall in the 1930s. Early dry cleaners used petroleum-based solvents, such as gasoline and kerosene. The use of highly flammable petroleum solvents caused many fires and explosions, resulting in government regulation of dry cleaners.
By the mid-1930s most dry cleaners had substituted perchloroethylene, (commonly called "perc,") for gasoline as the ideal solvent. Perc is stable and nonflammable. However, it is highly toxic to both dry cleaning workers and the environment and is a cancer causing chemical. In the 1990s the dry cleaning industry begin to replace perc with less toxic chemicals, including water-based methods. For more information on less toxic alternatives, go to the EPA's Design for the Environment Garment and Textile Care Partnership at http://www.epa.gov/dfe/pubs/projects/... . This Partnership promotes environmentally safer technologies for garment and textile cleaning. This program was developed by involving representatives from EPA and stakeholders from industry, labor, community action and environmental groups, trade associations, and research organizations.