If Irradiated Mail is Safe, How Come its making people sick?

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http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/bal-te.postal31jan31.story

Postal Service tells public its irradiated mail is safe

Agencies tested process for killing off anthrax

Associated Press

Posted January 31, 2002

WASHINGTON - The Postal Service sought to reassure the public - and mailroom

workers - that irradiated mail is not dangerous.

" We have had the mail tested by a number of agencies and they have

determined that there is not a level of carbon monoxide or any other toxic

substances that should cause anyone to become ill, " postal executive Deborah

K. Wilhite said yesterday.

To negate any future anthrax attack, the post office is irradiating mail

addressed to Washington ZIP codes where federal agencies are located. It

treats about 350,000 items a day addressed to ZIP codes 20200 through 20599.

There have been complaints of fumes, and people have reported feeling ill

after opening the irradiated mail, and skin reactions.

" We understand very, very clearly this has been a tense and worrisome time, "

Wilhite said.

She said she could not speculate on what has been causing the reported

illnesses.

Process creates dust

Irradiating mail does cause it to become drier than normal, and that means

people handling the mail will encounter more dust and will have drier skin

on their hands, Wilhite said.

G. Day, postal vice president for engineering, said the radiation

process causes the mail to release carbon monoxide and ozone, and leads to

the release of volatile compounds from the plastic bags that hold the mail.

Irradiated mail is held in a venting area for at least 24 hours to allow

these gases to escape, Day said. The mail is delivered only when any traces

of gas are below levels considered safe by the Environmental Protection

Agency.

Ventilation improved

When the system was begun, some postal workers suffered headaches when

handling irradiated mail, Day said. That was solved by adding ventilating

hoods that draw the gases away from the workers into filters.

The irradiation was started after contaminated letters were received at the

offices of Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, a South Dakota Democrat, and

Democratic Sen. J. Leahy of Vermont in the fall.

Five people, including two Washington-area postal workers, have died of

anthrax since contaminated letters were mailed from New Jersey in September

and October.

More than a dozen people were infected in New York, New Jersey, Florida and

Washington.

Copyright © 2002, The Baltimore Sun

see website for links to numerous sites on anthrax