From: Laurel Hopwood <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 1 Nov 2001
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: irradiation of the mail, please forward

PLEASE FORWARD:

The USPS has already started to irradiate our mail.  It is using 3 million
rads for this process. The maximum allowable dose of irradiation used on
food products ranges from 1 t0 30 kilogreys.  One grey equals 100 rads.  30
greys equals 3000 rads. 30 kilograys equals 3,000,000 rads. To give a
comparison, the government allows 1 kilogray to be used on pork products,
which is the equivalent of 100,000 rads. This means the government is
requiring the mail to be irradiated at the maximum allowable level for food
products.

At the present time, the USPS has employed Titan Corporation for the
irradiation process. The following is a list of materials that will be
effected by "beam effects" of irradiation.

(This is what "is known."  A question might be, what isn't known??)

Initial Beam Effects Summary Titan Corporation San Diego HQ phone number:
858-586-6666

Pharmaceuticals:  Pharmaceuticals respond differently to e-beam irradiation
based on their structure and the radiation stability that such structure
implies.  Since anthrax destruction requires a fairly high dose, due to the
inherent radiation resistance of the anthrax spores, it is likely that many
pharmaceuticals will show a reduction in their efficacy and/or stability.

Smart Cards, Chips:  In general, controlled applications of  low dose e-beam
irradiation have been successfully used in semiconductor manufacturing to
increase switching speeds as an alternative to gold doping.  High dose
effects are expected to be deleterious.  Specifically, with respect to the
effect of higher-dose e-beam irradiation on Smart Cards, in a 1997 Bellcore
study, researchers discovered that applying ionizing radiation to a smart
card's embedded chip can make it vulnerable to reverse engineering, allowing
the data on the chips to be stolen.  The radiation is apparently likely to
cause voltages inside the card to fluctuate, thus causing code execution
faults and rendering it vulnerable to the mathematical techniques used by
cryptographers to extract information stored in the card, including the key
used to authenticate the legitimacy of that card.

Data Storage:  Irradiating magnetic data storage media (e.g., floppy disks,
data tapes, VHS tapes) will erase their data, whereas irradiating digital
storage devices (e.g., CD's) will not.  Some data suggests that not all
credit card magnetic strips may be negatively impacted.  In terms of
physical properties (e.g., warpage, tensile properties) of the media, CD's
and DVD's are typically made of polycarbonate, a radiation-resistant polymer
(in the type of dose range being used for anthrax).  However,
polycarbonate-based materials, including some eyeglass lenses, will develop
coloration, typically of the yellow/orange/brown variety.

Photo Film:  E-beam irradiation will, in fact, expose unprocessed
photographic film in a similar manner as sunlight.  However, unlike
sunlight, highly energetic electrons have the ability to penetrate even
opaque packaging materials and affect their contents.  Developed negatives
are likely to show coloration, typically of the yellow/orange/brown variety,
upon irradiation.

Glass and Gemstones:  Irradiation will produce coloration of glass and
gemstones, the exact color and intensity being dependent on the nature of
the mineral impurities within the matrix.  E-beam irradiation is currently
used commercially to convert colorless topaz to deep blue using very high
doses.  At lower dose levels, most glass/crystal will turn a shade of gold
or brown.

Heat Generation:  Heat effects of e-beam irradiation are dependent on dose
and the inherent specific heat of the material in question.  For example,
polyethylene irradiated to doses high enough to deactivate anthrax would
heat up by about 17 degrees C.
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