MAIL - Coming soon, irradiated mail

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10/28/2001 - Updated 10:59 PM ET Coming soon: Irradiated mail

By Anita Manning, USA TODAY

The U.S. Postal Service will soon begin irradiating mail to reduce the threat from letters laced with anthrax, which has killed a Florida man and two Washington, D.C., postal workers. Irradiation systems that use high-voltage electron beams to kill bacteria have been ordered from Titan Corp. of San Diego. The first eight will be delivered in early November at a cost of $40 million, Titan CEO Gene Ray said. There is an option for the Postal Service to purchase 12 more.

The Postal Service says the Washington, D.C., metro area will be among the first to receive the equipment. Washington's Brentwood postal facility has become the focus of an anthrax outbreak that was discovered Oct. 15, when a contaminated letter was opened in the office of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle. Since then, traces of anthrax have been found in post offices and office buildings throughout the area.

The irradiation systems being purchased by the Postal Service are made by SureBeam, a Titan subsidiary. They have been used since 1993 to sterilize medical equipment and, for the past 18 months, to kill disease-causing microbes in meat, poultry, fruits and vegetables. They fire beams of electrons at nearly the speed of light to break up the DNA of bacteria. The electrons can penetrate packaging that's several inches thick in seconds. The company says it irradiates 40,000 pounds of hamburger in 90 minutes.

Whether zapping burgers or bills, it's all the same technology, SureBeam CEO Larry Oberkfell says. To the electron beam, anthrax is "just another bacteria. Basically, what we're doing is sterilizing paper, same as with medical equipment."

The equipment will be integrated into existing postal facilities, he says.

The process has been shown to be effective against anthrax, along with harmful food contaminants such as salmonella and E. coli, Ray says. "We haven't tested it in the mail per se, but we've tested it" against anthrax, he says.

To kill hardy anthrax spores will require about 10 times as much radiation as needed to sterilize a hamburger patty, he says.

That worries critics, who fear unforeseen fallout from widespread use of irradiation equipment at postal facilities.

The consumer group Public Citizen raised concerns last week about "extremely high doses of radiation" required to kill spores and their potential to "chemically alter food sent through the mail." The group also cited the danger to live bees and other creatures that can be legally sent through mail, and the effect on electronic equipment.

Oberkfell says such products are already sorted out from regular mail and would not be subject to irradiation.

Nevertheless, Public Citizen's Winonah Hauter says the decision to irradiate mail was made hastily and without public discussion.

"Our feeling is this is being rushed too quickly, without examining all the costs down the road," Hauter says. "There are a lot of worker-safety issues that will have to be addressed. We don't want people jumping from the frying pan to the fire."

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

Answers

well, I don't want to jump from the frying pan into the fire either, but being in the frying pan isn't much fun.

Nice of them to report about those types of mail pieces that will be excluded from radiation. Crickets, bees, human eyes, that sort of thing. [I have yet to see a box marked 'human testes' but I don't doubt that someone mails them on occasion.]

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001


ya know, while I understand that Judy Johnson only has our best interests at heart, [well, I want to believe that.] I think she needs to take a chill pill.

Initially, I felt that management was not moving fast enough to protect us, and that their continuous comments of having our safety in the forefront was BS, I realize now that they are incapable of moving any faster, and that they actually believe that our safety is their first concern.

This technology to radiate mail has been available for a long time. But, since moving the mail was the priority of USPS and making it safer for all that handle it was not, it isn't surprising that we had a mail moving system [elevated train system] installed last year that cut jobs instead of a safety system that cleans mail.

One can only hope that our facility will be one of the first few that get the radiation technology installed, seeing as how we are an international reception center, along with New York, LA, and a couple others.

No need to use it in Washington DC. Everyone there is taking Cipro already.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001


BF, maybe you can confirm what I got from my SIL, who has been a USPS carrier for 20 years in these parts. Things in your parts of the world may be different BF. I was told that any mail you get from now on, will only have a machine stamp, that all the hand stamps were gathered up from the clerk's windows. So if you you get a piece of mail that has been handstamped, you should be wary. The reason for this, is that you used to be able to buy these handstamps on ebay. Just thought I would pass this tidbit on, FWIW.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001

In the spirit of patriotic homefront defense, my mail remains in the box this evening...

The other day we got a small, unsolicited package. The addressed name was misspelled. The return name and address were unfamiliar. There was a lot of tape all over the thing. The package felt kinda gritty. The package stayed outside with the chickens for a few hours. For a few more hours it sat on a table in the house.

When it didn't immediately kill chickens or explode, we carefully slit the package open. Inside was a small box. We gingerly opened the box, after sending the children from the room.

It was a thoughtful gift from a friend of ours, sent from the person he had bought it from, I guess.

Do you think we're overreacting yet? >;)

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001


Idon't think they are doing away with hand stamps. That is a tool used inside the facility to cancel those letters that cannot be done by machine.

If someone has one and used it, the letter would be sent back, since the postage would be canceled already.

Can't imagine what someone would want with one, unless they just want to hold it.

if there was no return address, it goes to dead letters, and they will throw it away unless they determine a return address. Then it goes back postage due.

I would suspect that roadside collection boxes would disappear from the corners if idiots continue to mail poisons.

btw, our facility is one of those that will be tested. They are doing it tomorrow.

guess it sort of looks like they waited for Judy Johnson to waste some money, huh? LOL

The results of the sampling of various parts and stuff in the facility will be available in 4-5 days.

Seems to me that if anything comes up positive we'll know a little sooner, don't you think? Like right then and there. I think it will be 4-5 days for them to deliver a report, but the actual results of the sampling should register immediately.

Anyway, finally saw the plant manager. never knew who she was before Monday. I mean, it's not like she wears a big sign and wanders around the workfloor all the time... LOL

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2001



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