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Pastimes : The Justa and Lars Honors Bob Brinker Investment Club Thread -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Boca_PETE who wrote (1546)	10/28/2001 4:30:21 PM
From: marc ultra	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 10065

Pete, re<<<<marc u - do you know how long one needs to cook one's mail in a radar range to kill the spores but avoid having the mail catch fire ?>>>> Pete, I'm not an anthrax expert but I think the problem is inherent in your question. Anthrax spores are dry and hardy and microwave ovens work to a large degree by heating up the water i.e. moisture in the food. So I think it is possible to start your mail on fire or at least there have been some anecdotal reports of this floating around. Just as a guess I would think it possible the adhesive used to seal the envelope or the stamp could potentially become flammable before the spores are killed. There's another more central problem. The mail that caused many of the problems had this finely milled aerosilized spores that was easily passed through the pores in the envelope itself and apparently was also chemically treated to counteract the natural electrostatic charge that would have otherwise caused the spores to clump. Thus if you had a suspicious piece of mail would you really want to start handling it and screwing around putting it in a microwave when you'll only increase your chance of getting inhalation(or skin) anthrax by handling it This is why the only answer at this point is to sterilize all or at least all the high risk mail before it gets into the sorting machines and gets delivered. Note these same electron beam machines are used to sterilize food and medical equipment. There has been growing calls for assuring the safety of the food supply. The only interesting thing for investors chasing these is that if these Surebeam machines are used for anything other then food, flowers or hides, than TTN handles the job and has its subsidiary SURE supply the machines for cost plus 20% far below their usual cost. If it's used for food, flowers or hides Surebeam gets the contract and makes a couple of million more on the machines. Anyway the Postal Service did the right thing in sending all the suspect mail in the Washingtion DC area out to get sterilized, assumedly they'll decontaminate the involved postal facilities, and then when it returns they can safely handle it and deliver it Marc