Author: Phillip R. Herr

Publisher: DIANE Publishing

Published: 2009-02

Total Pages: 48

ISBN-13: 1437908772

In Oct. 2001, spores of the deadly bacterium anthrax were found in mail sent to members of the news media and congressional leaders. In all, 22 people were infected with anthrax and 5 people died, including 2 postal workers. The U.S. Postal Service took a variety of steps to protect people from biohazards in the mail. For ex., it began contracting for the irradiation of mail to recipients at the Congress, the White House, and fed. agencies with specific ZIP Codes (20201 through 20597) in the Wash., D.C., area. This report describes: the vol. of mail irradiated and how the vol. has changed; the cost of irradiating mail and how the cost has changed; and the extent to which irradiation delays mail deliveries and how these delivery delays have changed. Illus.