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RE: [GWL]: Irradiation of Mail & Plant Fallout

> ------------------------------
> Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2001 11:08:26 -0500
> From: "Doreen Howard" <doreenh@ticon.net>
> 
> Since the US Postal Service has decided to buy cobalt-gamma ray irradiation
> equipment to sanitize the mail, we plant people have a big problem.  Seeds
> and live plants exposed to this irradiation will be altered genetically.

What makes you think that they will just be altered genetically?  More
likely seeds and plants will be killed.  After all, the goal of the
irradiation is not just to rearrange DNA but to damage it enough to kill
bacterial cells and spores; and not just a few, but 100% of them.
Everything depends on the quanta of radiation used; but I think it is
safe to say that in this instance the equipment will not be turned down
to protect seed and plant shipments if that means a higher chance of
bacteria slipping through.  

Some posters have suggested that foil might protect against the effects
of radiation: how can we be sure of that?  I don't myself know the
answer to this yet, but a priori it seems unlikely that foil will work
because if is that easy to protect anthrax bacteria from radiation,
then what stops the terrorists from using foil?  Further, the suggestion
that the post office will set up a separate stream of no-radiation mail
seems unlikely because that might compromise security.  The politicians
and the postal unions will want to eliminate any possibility of anthrax
getting through. 

The trouble is that it looks like security considerations will make it
difficult to get enough details to formulate an appropriate response in
time for the coming season.

I am very worried about this move, which will likely be echoed in Canada
according to comments made by a Canada Post spokesman in Wednesday's
Globe and Mail. 

> Several seed companies have already contacted their elected representatives
> about this.  What can we do as individuals?  Should be we be worried?  I am.
> Does this mean that seeds (which are light in weight) will now have to be
> sent via UPS or Fed-EX at much higher rates?  How does this effect an

What makes you think that UPS and FedEx won't have to follow suit? 
Terrorists can send stuff by UPS and FedEx just as easily as by mail. 

> already struggling garden industry?  Let the discussion begin.  And, email
> your elected representatives about your concerns.

As a mailorder operation that depends on both the mail and courier
services to deliver our herb plants and seeds, I am petrified what this
means.  Even if the radiation doesn't kill seeds and plants (which I
don't for a moment believe), who is going to buy herbs and veggies that
are irradiated?  This is going to push people to buy their seeds and
plants locally, and if that means substituting their favourite varieties
with what meagre stuff is available locally, so be it.  In the totality
of things, that scenario might not be too bad for consumers, but it
could be hell for mailorder companies.

Conrad Richter

> Doreen Howard
> 

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