Mike Lorrey wrote:
> A solution to the 'anthrax in the mail' problem is rather obvious:
> irradiate the mail. This would eliminate any threat of bacteriological
> biowarfare through the mail, and may actually be useful against viral
> contagions as well.
>
> "Gamma Rays: Give your mail a tan."
>
> Mike Lorrey
>
>
Almost all mail except packages can be eliminated: just use
e-mail or fax, and of course arrest all junk mailers as
potential terrorists :-)
Until we can train everybody that mail is an unfriendly and
unwanted anachronism, places such as congress that get a
lot of mail should invest in automated equipment that
opens the mail under remote supervision and then stores and
forwards an electronic copy: the mailroom need not be
within a thousand miles of the addressee. This approach
probably makes economic sense even in the absence of
a terrorist threat. WHen fully implemented, the remaining mail
volume would be so much smaller that we could afford the
extra cost of additional protective measures, such as affirmative
identification of the sender via telephone prior to opening any
package.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat May 11 2002 - 17:44:14 MDT