Don't shake, bake!

0 Comments | Insight on the News, Dec 3, 2001 | by Paul M. Rodriguez, | Brandon Spun

While the rest of us, including the nation's postal workers, worry about further anthrax contaminations (or worse), it seems that the House (and presumably the Senate) have gotten their act together on the mail. In fact, they've called in some top guns.

In a memo obtained by news alert! titled "Process for Sanitizing the Mail," House officials decided to adopt sophisticated irradiation technology. While the technology is widely used for food processing and medical sterility and controlled by the Food and Drag Administration and the Environmental Protection Agency, House officials have gone a step further by getting assistance from the Office of Science and Technology for the President, the Department of Energy and, get this, the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI). All provided technical guidance on appropriate dose levels to zap the mail.

Moreover, while systems are being pulled together with help from the Sandia National Laboratory, AFRRI will be providing "biologic samples to run through the irradiation process," says the memo. "These samples will be randomly placed in with mail in order to verify that the process is effective in killing anthrax" and other bugs. All right, everybody hold your breath!

PAUL M. RODRIGUEZ IS MANAGING EDITOR OF Insight AND BRANDON SPUN IS A REPORTER.