The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health on Friday announced the presence of a cancer-causing chemical at a dry cleaner business in Sylmar and another 2025 case of measles, this time in the Santa Clarita area.
Health officials received a Proposition 65 notice from the California Regional Water Quality Control Board’s Los Angeles division concerning Excell Cleaners at 13215 Gladstone Ave., where trichloroethylene, or TCE was detected in the indoor air.
On June 2, the business’ environmental consultants KCE Matrix and attorney Jennifer Hartman King notified water quality regulators that the maximum indoor air concentration detected was 215 micrograms per cubic meter, according to Public Health. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s thresholds for indoor-airborne TCE is between 8 and 24 micrograms.
According to the California Water Resources Control Board, TCE can cause cancer.
The federal EPA has identified cancer and other health hazards resulting from TCE exposure in indoor air for pregnant women and possible heart defects to a developing fetus.
Prolonged exposure may also increase cancer risk, health officials said.
The county health department is required to inform the public of potential health risks such as TCE exposure, officials said, adding, “The intent of Proposition 65 .. is to protect the public and its drinking water resources, and to inform the public about potential exposures to chemicals.”
Voters enacted Prop 65, the Safe Drinking Water and Toxic Enforcement Act, in 1986.
Trichloroethylene is a colorless, volatile liquid that evaporates quickly into the air, according to water regulators. It is nonflammable and has a sweet odor.
TCE’s two major uses are as a solvent to remove grease from metal parts and as an ingredient in the manufacturing of other chemicals, especially the refrigerant HFC-134a.
The notice from water regulators to the county regarding possible TCE discharge said the dry cleaner business “used chlorinated solvents in the past.” The document also reported “TCE in an indoor air sample located adjacent to the on-site dry cleaning machine.”
The notice identifies the “discharge location” as “Former Country Cleaners” and “Excell Cleaners, current tenant” and said the unknown type of discharge “can not be determined if it is an aboveground or subsurface
source at this time.”
The regulatory board’s document also presumably misspells TCE as “trichloroethene.”
The federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry’s website has fact sheets on the health effects of TCE.
Measles in Santa Clarita
Public Health is investigating one case of measles in a county resident who recently travelled internationally.
The investigation involves multiple exposure sites. People at the following public places on May 29 may be at risk of developing measles, particularly unvaccinated individuals:
- Costco, 18659 Via Princessa in Santa Clarita from 10 a.m. to noon;
- Trader Joes, 19037 Golden Valley Road in Santa Clarita from 2:30-4 p.m.; and
- Walmart, 25450 The Old Road in Stevenson Ranch from 3:15 to 4:45 p.m.
People who were at these locations during the listed date and times may be at risk of developing measles from seven to 21 days after exposure, health officials said. Individuals who have been symptom-free for more than 21 days following exposure, which is June 18, are no longer at risk.
As measles outbreaks occur nationwide and internationally, an increase in cases in LA County intensifies the need for residents “to get protected before making summer travel plans” by receiving the measles-mumps-rubella, or MMR vaccine if they are not immune, according to the health department.
“Measles is a serious respiratory disease that spreads easily through the air and on surfaces, particularly among people who are not already protected from it,” LA County Health Officer Muntu Davis said in a statement. “A person can spread the illness to others before they have symptoms, and it can take seven to twenty-one days for symptoms to show up after exposure. Measles can lead to severe disease in young children and vulnerable adults. The best way to protect yourself and your family from infection is with the highly effective measle vaccine.”
Measles spreads freely through the air when an infected person breathes, talks, coughs or sneezes, officials said. The virus can stay in the air and on surfaces for many hours after the infected person has left the an area.
An infected person can spread the disease up to four days before a measles rash appears and up to four days after the rash develops. If other people breathe the contaminated air or touch the infected surface, then touch their eyes, noses, or mouths, they can become infected, according to the health department.
Common symptoms for measles include a high fever above 101 degrees, cough, runny nose, red and watery eyes and a rash three to five days after other signs of illness. The measles rash usually begins on the face, then spreads downward to the rest of the body.
In the U.S. as of May 30, 1,088 measles cases have been reported this year. Most of these cases are linked to an ongoing measles outbreak in Texas, New Mexico, Kansas and Oklahoma.
The majority of cases are unvaccinated or have unknown vaccination status, with 12% of these cases requiring hospitalization for management of complications or isolation, according to Public Health. Three people have died from measles-related complications.
The last case of measles in an LA County resident was reported in May.
Updated June 9, 2025, 9:08 a.m.
