At least 80 percent of dry cleaning establishments in the U.S. use chemical solvents that are toxic to human health. When you open the clear plastic that usually wraps your dry cleaned clothes, you inhale an invisible cloud of toxic fumes.

Perchloroethylene is the primary solvent used by dry cleaners for a half-century. Environmental agencies have listed it as an air pollutant and a groundwater contaminant, while medical researchers have found evidence that it can cause cancer and kidney and liver damage.

A natural cleaning alternative to this solvent has emerged that can reduce environmental impacts, eliminate most health dangers, get clothes cleaner, and even reduce cleaning costs. It is carbon dioxide, the same gas that creates the bubbles in soda drinks. A liquid form of carbon dioxide can be mixed with soap and pressurized to clean just as conventional dry cleaners already do.

A study in Consumer Reports compared carbon dioxide cleaned clothes with conventional cleaning techniques and found carbon dioxide to be superior: "The clothing cleaned by carbon dioxide didn't change shape, shrink or stretch. There was little or nochange in the color or the texture of the fabrics."

About 35 cleaners nationwide use carbon dioxide technology and report that it reduces costs from $15 per loan cleaned with perchloroethylene to just $3 per load. The only drawback is that carbon dioxide machines cost about $165,000 each compared to $50,000 or less for conventional dry cleaning machines, which could be prohibitive for small dry cleaning operations. As more dry cleaners adopt the new technology, however, costs can be expected to drop as competition to produce the equipment develops.