IP: "Iron your letters" or use gamma radiation

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 10:39:21 -0400
> To: farber () central cis upenn edu (David Farber)
> From: Jean Armour Polly <mom () netmom com>
> Subject: "Iron your letters" or use gamma radiation
>
> Dave
> http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011017/od/iron_dc.html
>
> Germ Expert Says Panicky People Can Iron Mail
>
> WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading bioterror expert said on Tuesday people 
> who feel panicky about opening their mail amid the anthrax scare can use a 
> hot steam iron and a moist layer of fabric to kill germs.
>
> Ken Alibek, a top former Soviet germ warfare scientist who is now a 
> U.S.-based author and researcher trying to develop defenses against 
> bioterror, told a surprised congressional briefing on nonproliferation 
> that a hot, moist steam iron and moist fabric could kill anthrax spores.
>
> Pressed by surprised lawmakers who were not sure if they had heard him 
> right, he repeated that several times.
>
> ``Iron your letters,'' he said, adding that a microwave oven was not as 
> good as an iron and that including moisture was essential because spores 
> could survive dry heat.
>
> For large amounts of mail, in big cities or postal distribution centers, 
> he recommended setting up portable gamma radiation units to sterilize 
> letters. ``This problem could be solved,'' he said.
>
> Alibek repeated the advice of many other experts that people should not 
> buy gas masks. But he said that if his biotech company and two others 
> doing similar work got ''significant funding,'' they probably could bring 
> to market new antiviral drugs that would work against several potential 
> bioterror weapons within two years. ``We've had interesting results with 
> animals,'' he said.
>
> Connecticut Republican Christopher Shays, who convened the hearing, noted 
> that the chances of anyone getting anthrax-contaminated mail were 
> extremely small.


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