http://www.boston.com/dailynews/290/nation/Postal_inspectors_issue_heads_:.shtml

Postal inspectors issue heads-up about Publishers Clearinghouse mailings containing detergent

By Associated Press, 10/17/2001 18:05

ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) With fears of anthrax in the mail running high, postal inspectors in St. Paul have given their colleagues a heads-up that Publishers Clearinghouse is sending out packages of powdered detergent.

''There's nothing to be alarmed about in that package,'' Inspector Jeanne Graupman said. She added: ''Just the timing of it wasn't very good.''

The OxiClean household cleanser is being sent out in 1½-pound packages with the return address 720 Winners Circle, St. Cloud, Minn.

The St. Paul Postal Inspection Service issued an advisory to inspectors Tuesday. Graupman said she sent the memo after a postal employee told an inspector about a leaky package of the powder. She wouldn't say where it was found.

Chris Irving, senior director of consumer affairs for Publishers Clearinghouse in Port Washington, N.Y., said OxiClean is being mailed only to customers who ordered it.

Publishers Clearinghouse sells household items in addition to magazine subscriptions.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001

Answers

I'll bet someone is going to lose his or her job over this incident.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001

glad I saw this. Just another item that will no doubt be in the air at work.

some people are allergic to stuff like that.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001

Barefoot, how are you holding up? I think of you and your colleagues a lot: you're on the "front lines" in a way.

I've been doing my part: I used to use tape on envelopes and omit my return address. I don't do that any more. I also used to "recycle" stained envelopes. I've thrown those away.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001

I haven't started the compulsive handwashing...yet.

-- Anonymous, October 17, 2001

I wash my hands so much, they are like brillo pads! If I have to leave and go somewhere, I don't touch anything I am not buying, and I wash as soon as I get home..I am about to start doing "nasal Douches!" (is that ok to say in "polite company??")

Mailman, do you wear a mask, I would if I was you..when I get the mail, I use a stick and tap them before I grab them, and I get them with gloves on...not that anyone is sending ME anything, but maybe something was in the same Post office and it broke, and got on my mail!

(Naaa I ain't paranoid!!!)

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001

Sar.....

don't know if i'd be "poking about with a stick"....no telling WHAT you'll stir up

might try this, tho......


Expert Says Ironing Letters Kills Anthrax
17/10/01 01:48
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading bio-terror expert has said people who feel panicky about opening their mail amid the anthrax scare can use a hot steam iron and a moist layer of fabric to kill germs.

Ken Alibek, a top former Soviet germ warfare scientist who is now a U.S.-based author and researcher trying to develop defences against bioterror, on Tuesday told a surprised congressional briefing on non-proliferation that a hot, moist steam iron and moist fabric could kill anthrax spores.

Pressed by surprised lawmakers who were not sure if they had heard him right, he repeated that several times.

"Iron your letters," he said, adding that a microwave oven was not as good as an iron and that including moisture was essential because spores could survive dry heat.

For large amounts of mail, in big cities or postal distribution centres, he recommended setting up portable gamma radiation units to sterilise letters. "This problem could be solved," he said.

Alibek repeated the advice of many other experts that people should not buy gas masks. But he said that if his biotech company and two others doing similar work got "significant funding," they probably could bring to market new antiviral drugs that would work against several potential bio-terror weapons within two years. "We've had interesting results with animals," he said.

Connecticut Republican Christopher Shays, who convened the hearing, noted that the chances of anyone getting anthrax-contaminated mail were extremely small.

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001

"I'll bet someone is going to lose his or her job over this incident." Meemur, that's what I was thinking to, although it might be the ad agency account instead.

-- Anonymous, October 18, 2001