By the time any of the Anthrax letters were delivered and revealed to contain a biological weapon, the mailing containers they were processed and delivered with were already back in circulation, on their way to unknown locations. There is no way to track where a container goes after it’s contents have been delivered. Routing directions are attached to mail containers when they are full, these are removed and the containers are refilled and sent elsewhere.

My parents own and operate a mailing service. As part of their jobs, they deliver mailings to the post office using postal service trays and bags. The trays are made of cardboard and corrugated plastic, the bags are canvas. All of these containers are filthy. They never seem to get washed, and stay in service until they wear out.

Mail bags and cardboard trays are porous. These are filthy because paper dust, ink particles and all manor of grease, grime and muck get into the cracks and crevasses and stay there. Cloth and paper are filters and filters clog over time.

Considering how much time has passed and the massive volume of mail processed every day, it’s almost a certainty there will be more Anthrax cases based on redistribution of the existing spores. Our government agencies aren’t doing a whole lot to counter this continuing threat.

The CDC, the same supposedly informed authority who presumed that a common paper envelope was somehow a bio-hazard containment device, has posted these InterimRecommendations for Protecting Workers from Exposure to Bacillus anthracis in Work Sites Where Mail Is Handled or Processed. One passage reinforced my concerns:

Gloves and other personal protective clothing and equipment can be discarded in regular trash once they are removed or if they are visibly torn, unless a suspicious piece of mail is recognized and handled. If a suspicious piece of mail is recognized and handled, the workers protective gear should be handled as potentially contaminated material

The glaring inconsistency here is that a postal worker’s jeans would be considered potentially contaminated, but the unknown canvas mail bag through which the deadly letters were delivered has not been quarantined. In this case especially, any contaminated item has the potential to distribute the contagion just as readily as the original letter. Did no one think of this, or is it just too big a headache? It seems like none of the people commenting on how to make the mail safer have ever visited a working postal facility and have no idea how many potential hazards are built into the system. Yes, high-speed sorting machines create dust, but so does a 30 pount canvas sack of letters when thrown into the back of a truck.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Public Inquiries line: (800) 311-3435