Dry Cleaning Chemicals Are Likely Carcinogenic According To The WHO

Water Contamination Lawsuit News

Improperly disposed of Perchloroethylene (PERC) may be causing cancer at Camp Lejuene and elsewhere

Monday, June 13, 2022 - Dry cleaners improperly disposing of their toxic waste into the ground to be absorbed into the water table and finding its way into the local municipal tap water could be the source of an emerging global health crisis. Scientists in the UK have addressed the issue of dry cleaning solutions and have identified Perchloroethylene (PERC), also known as tetrachloroethylene, a solvent used by the industry for more than half a century, as a chemical carcinogen that is at the root of the problem. PERC is classified as likely carcinogenic by the International Agency for Cancer Research (IARC) in Lyon France and is banned in California, France, and Denmark according to a report in WalesOnline.co.uk. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) warns readers that carcinogenic dry cleaning chemicals can stick to clothing. Workers at dry cleaners are at great risk and say that inhaling dry cleaning solution fumes causes "respiratory and eye irritation, headache, dizziness and vision problems." Studies found that PERC evaporates from clothing that has been dry cleaned and is released into the home according to EWG. Interestingly, the US Department of Defense blames a local dry cleaner for poisoning millions of US marines at the Camp Lejeune Marine installation, civilians, and their family members by improperly disposing of the PERC they used in the local drinking water system. The DOD blames ABC One-Hour Cleaners, an off-base dry cleaning business, for spills and improperly disposing of PERC, and polluting water wells serving the local Tarawa Terrace water purification system. The Veterans Administration (VA) has identified eight types of PFAS cancer as being caused by drinking local tap water contaminated by ABC dry cleaners. They are leukemia. Aplastic anemia, bladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, multiple myeloma, and Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Also included on the list disease is Parkinson's disease, a deadly neurological disorder. Marines and civilian employees living or working on or near the base, and their families qualify for extended financial benefits if they have developed one or more of these conditions.

While the DOJ focuses on dry cleaning chemicals as the source of the PFAS water pollution that has sickened and killed tens of thousands of people, the base also used toxic firefighting foam in their training exercise. Firefight foam manufactured by 3M contains PFAS forever chemicals like the ones found in dry cleaning solution. PFAS forever chemicals in firefighting foam leached into the local tap water for more than fifty years causing cancer and death. The Camp Lejeune Justice Act (CLJA) is designed to cancel North Carolina's statute that limits when a person can file a personal injury or wrongful death lawsuit to ten years from the first time that forever chemicals were discovered in the tap water. That would be approximately 1963. As ridiculous as that sounds, the DOD is accused of knowing about their forever chemical problem from that date and doing little or nothing about the problem nor alerting marines and civilians that they and their family's health could be at risk. Many now are looking to Camp Lejeune water contamination attorneys for guidance on exactly how they can hold the Department of Defense and the Federal Government accountable for their negligence.

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