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[GWL]: Mail irradiation

    At Johnny's we have been on this topic, and I thought a number of
subscribers to this list would want to read an internal (at Johnny's)
email from Bill Gallagher, Operations Director.  Email me with comments
or corrections (or just to say Hay.)

 Rob Johnston
 Johnny's Selected Seeds
 Chairman
-------------------
(from Bill Gallagher, JSS Operations Director, to JSS Staff, dated
11/29/01)

Hello everyone,

   I know that there has been a lot of correspondence flowing through
the company regarding the irradiation of mail. I have responded to
several e-mails from customers and last week we met with representatives
of the USPS out of the Boston Mail Center. Based on our meeting, I'm
confident that mail sent to our customers WILL NOT be subject to
irradiation. In fact, to date, none of the irradiation equipment
purchased from Titan Equipment has been deployed, and in all likelihood
it will never be deployed in the public, private or business sector.
Hopefully, the following will be helpful when customers raise the issue.

   In response to the initial anthrax attack which originated in the
Trenton, NJ postal facility and which was targeted at US Senators and
Representatives, the USPS immediately purchased (5) irradiation machines
from Titan Equipment. This equipment is designed for the irradiation of
food products (not necessarily a comforting thought). Each of these
machines cost $8 million dollars. According to the USPS reps we spoke
to, the purchase of this equipment occurred immediately after the
initial attack, at a time when the magnitude of the problem was unknown
to them. Irradiation was one theoretical way to kill the anthrax
bacteria that the US government began investigating. However, once the
equipment was actually tested, it was apparent that this method of mail
sanitization was logistically and economically impractical. It takes (1)
minute per piece of mail to irradiate to levels sufficient to kill the
anthrax. The USPS processes (680) million pieces of mail on a normal
day. Based on that, it would take approx. 475,000 machines to irradiate
daily mail. Cost to purchase equipment; $3.8 trillion dollars, not to
mention the cost of staff, facilities and operational expense. There are
no plans to purchase any more equipment. One other bit of trivia to put
it in perspective. Since the initial anthrax attack, the USPS has
processed more than (45) Billion pieces of mail, of which (5) to date
have been identified as infected.
   We are not alone. The USPS clearly recognizes that many industries
besides the mail-order gardening industry would be effected by
irradiation. Those include pharmaceuticals, computer, medical, and
credit card companies, who are all much larger players than we are.
Again, they have concluded that irradiation is not a viable option from
a purely business standpoint, as all of these industries would take
their products out of the US mail stream, and move them to private
carriers. The result would be the collapse of the US Postal Service. At
this time, the ONLY place the USPS is even considering deploying
irradiation equipment is in the mail facilities that directly serve the
Congress, Supreme Court and the White House. Again, to date, no
equipment has actually been put into service.
      As you might imagine, the USPS is being cautious in what they are
telling the public about exactly how they are going to guarantee the
safety of the mail. CNN will take care of that. What they did tell us
was that their focus at this time is on the "anonymous"  mail that
enters the mail stream through collection boxes (big blue mail boxes).
Basically, this is regular mail with a stamp on it. All five of the
infected letters entered the mail stream in this fashion. Business to
business, business to consumer, priority mail, and the vast majority of
parcel mail is considered secure by the USPS and is processed in a
totally different manner than individual letters with stamps on them.
   In short, mail irradiation cannot and will not be used on any wide
spread basis. Hopefully this provides some information to people who
deal with our customers. Please call (ext. 218) if you have questions.

Bill

--
Robert L. Johnston, Jr.
Chairman
Johnny's Selected Seeds (http://www.johnnyseeds.com)
 Post:  RD 1  Box 2580, Albion, Maine  04910  USA
 Fax:   1.207.437.2422 (alternate= 1.207.437.2165)
 Telephone:  1.207.437.9294

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