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RE: More on irradiated mail
I endorse
both of Ruth's proposals for explanation.
Many plastics
do give off assorted nasties when heated (sometimes even moderately), and the
dust problem in postal facilities is well known. My grandfather died of
emphysema brought on, in part, from the dust associated with his job in a major
Post Office distribution center.
So either, or
especially both, seem like a reasonable explanation.
Dave
Neil
-----Original Message-----
From:
RuthWeiner@AOL.COM [mailto:RuthWeiner@AOL.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, August
28, 2002 9:16 PM
To: radsafe@list.vanderbilt.edu
Subject:
More on irradiated mail
I
discussed this question with my husband and he told me that when he was in
college, he sorted mail at the local P. O. at night. Then, of course, it
was all sorted by hand. He pointed out that the surfaces of the
envelopes and folded fliers peel and crumble slightly, that the sorting room
was always dusty, and that his hands got itchy and he washed them frequently.
An electron beam intense enough to char paper and distort the windows
in window envelopes is probably intense enough to enhance the peeling and
crumbling process, no matter what the chemical process by which the paper was
made. I imagine that a lot of the sorting is now done by machine, and
mail is handled much less by people. So I would guess that
(1) there
is much less human handling of mail than there was 50 years ago
(2) the
surface of unirradiated mail peels and crumbles as much as it ever did, only
handlers don't notice it because they don't handle it that much
(3)
Intense electron beam irradiation results in more surface crumbling, and the
handlers hands are sensitized and irritated to the extent that it is
noticeable, even though they handle the mail less.
They should have
used gammas.
Ruth Weiner, Ph. D.
ruthweiner@aol.com