Government Investigates Health Concerns of Irradiated Mail

A Congressional regulatory body has opened an investigation into irradiated mail after Capitol Hill employees complained about health problems.

The Office of Compliance responded to a formal request by Sen. Charles Grassley (R-IA) to determine if there is a link between health problems and either irradiated mail or the air quality following the clean up of the anthrax-exposed Senate Hart building.

"An independent review can help shed light on what kind of health risks might exist and if they exist, how to solve them," Grassley said in a statement. "The results should ease a lot of worries."

Grassley said about 73 employees in all three Senate office buildings complained of symptoms such as skin rashes, eye irritation and headaches after handling irradiated mail. Physicians that examined the employees attributed some of the complaints to colds, flu and dry weather.

Another 50 to 60 employees at the Hart building had similar complaints of dry eyes and throats and headaches after returning to work at the building which had been decontaminated after a letter sent to Sen. Tom Daschle was found to be contaminated with anthrax, he said.

In the request Grassley requested that the investigation review the irradiation process on mail and the health problems that can cause and to see what measures can be taken, if any, by agencies, employers and employees to reduce the health risks. He also asked that the air quality in the Hart building be tested and to determine whether adequate measures have been taken to respond to the complaints.

Postal workers at facilities in the Washington, DC area that handle irradiated mail have also complained of skin rashes and dry throats as well as bloody noses.

Bill Thompson, executive director of the Office of Compliance, said Grassley's request came after a number of others received in the past few days from the House. The agency enforces the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The Office of the General Counsel is responsible for the operation of the investigation, Thompson said.

Mail is being irradiated for Federal and government agencies in Washington, DC area Zip codes beginning with 202 and 205 including the White House and Capitol Hill. All first class letters and flats are sanitized. Standard mail and periodicals are excluded from the process since they arrive from known shippers, said USPS spokesperson Gerry Kreienkamp.

About 300,000 to 350,000 pieces of mail are sent daily to facilities in Lima, OH and Bridgeport, NJ, where the mail is run through a process to destroy biohazards, originally designed to sanitize medical equipment and some foods.

The irradiation process generates heat and dries out some types of paper generating more dust than usual, Kreienkamp said. "We've heard of complaints but there's been no medical evidence that the mail is the cause of any of these," he said referring to postal worker's concerns.

But to address some of the issues created by the irradiation process once the mail is returned to the postal facilities, it is set under air vents to draw away odors and dust. A deodorizer—used by fire departments to eliminate the smell of smoke from burned buildings—is applied to the mail. And the dosage of irradiation has been lowered. "We're taking every precaution we can," he said.

Last fall, after anthrax-tainted letters hit the mailstream, five people in the United States died from exposure, two were postal employees that worked at the Brentwood mail facility in Washington. Following the deaths, the USPS began a major campaign to irradiate mail to eliminate biohazards.