Anthrax To Kill Snail Mail 522
omnirealm writes "Steven Levy over at NBC expressed his opinion that the new anthrax thread in our snail-mail is going to be a major catalyst to a general switch to e-mail as the primary means of written communication."
you're more likely to die (Score:5, Informative)
Re:What is an "Anthrax thread"? (Score:2, Informative)
Mail beats Email (Score:5, Informative)
Frankly with 1 case of transmission of anthrax by postal mail I think the whole topic is foolish and a sad attempt by a columnist to get some attention.
Forms of snail Mail that won't go away (Score:4, Informative)
If the day comes when the government says snail mail is going away, watch out. If you think Uncle Sam has opinions about your computer and the software you run now, wait until you see the regulations that will be imposed on email.
One thing that may happen as fallout is small business may get out of the private delivery business. The mail is now going to need to be x-rayed and electronically sniffed. Business such as a Mial Box Express or Joe's overnight delivery are not going to have money for the new array of equiptment that they will be told they must own.
The things that will work to reduce the amount of snail mail - Mail is about to become slower and less reliable. When a pathogen is discovered in the mail, any parcels that may have physically contacted it will need to be destroyed.
People are now uneasy to open a package or parcel they were not expecting. This will make it less likely for advertisements to continue to be sent via mail. Expect to see an increase in Spam, and a relaxation in laws that control it.
Re:Anthrax: Not really a good weapon anyway (Score:1, Informative)
It's only the first documented case because everyone is suddenly afraid of it. It is believed that there have been many cases that were just not recognized because nobody would even think of anthrax as a cause for the symptoms.
Cutaneous antrax has an 80% survival rate with NO treatment. It's only when it's inhaled or consumed that it's nasty.
Also, you don't mention that anthrax is NOT contagious. You pretty much have to be a target to get it.
The USPS cannot die! (Score:2, Informative)
This is happening.... (Score:2, Informative)
I'm guessing the price of the stamp is going to go through the roof, however
Re:Anthrax: Not really a good weapon anyway (Score:3, Informative)
Inhaled or ingested anthrax is not pretty or very treatable. However, if contracted through the skin, it is relatively easy to treat.
The thing is it is not very contagious. Therefore, it is not the "good weapon" that you speak of because the target area is so small. How many unsuccessful attempts to infect people with Anthrax were there that we don't know about? Probably a very large number.
However, it is not destruction or death but fear that these people want to provoke. Anthrax IS a good tool for that because it is a boogey-man.
Re:I'm sick of this anthrax bullshit..... (Score:4, Informative)
The fact of the matter is that biological and chemical weapons just aren't practical.
In fact, there has already been a successful biological attack on American soil. It was carried out in 1984 by a bunch of amateurs, followers of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, who poisoned over 700 people with botulism that they spread on salad bars in Oregon.
The 9/11 terrorists have shown themselves to be resourceful, if not practical, and ruthless enough to use biological weapons. One could have once argued, with equal logic, that hijacking airliners and crashing them into skyscrapers "was just not practical".
If news reports are to be believed, the U.S. mail has already proved to be viable way of spreading two different kinds of anthrax. The only constraint of using the mail is the thousands of dollars involved in postage for a mass mailing.
It's much cheaper, easier and kills a lot more people to just set off a bomb in some building.
On a cost per thousand basis, there's nothing cheaper than biological weapons, particularly if you use a contageous one like smallpox, as the article you cite suggests at the end. The writer of that article seems to think the fact that the terrorists themselves might be at risk is a deterent.
Although there may be some technological hurdles, the payoff both in terms of casualties and creating terror is unbeatable.
If people are complacent about the threat of biological terrorism, the terrorists have already overcome their biggest obstacle.
Re:Forms of snail Mail that won't go away (Score:3, Informative)
Levy's remarks about e-books replacing real books eliminated what little credibility he had failed to squander with the rest of the article. E-books deserved to be ranked with "Internet appliances" and communism as ideas that look dumb on paper (or e-paper) and even dumber in practice.
Much of the same applies to mail.
Testing Positive for Exposure.. (Score:3, Informative)
There is one case of an Anthrax infection that has been reported so far. One case, and that person has died. That particular case involved a non-GMO (Generically Modificed Organism) version of the Anthrax bacterium. The other cases are a completely different variety of the same bacterium (cutaneous). The one in Florida may very well be a completely natural infection which occured. Yes, there has not been a single case reported in the U.S. of an Anthrax infection in 25 years, and within one week, there are over 7 cases on the books, so you can guarantee that it's intentional, but do not continue to spread the FUD without some knowledge behind you.
The others may not be, but nobody else has been infected with Anthrax to date except this Florida case. The other people you are hearing about have only tested positive for the antibodies which the body produces naturally to fight off the presence of Anthrax.
There's too much FUD in the news right now.
Lastly... there's an interesting quote from al-Queda spokesman Suleiman Abu-Gheith today saying:
This is far from over. Please feel free to print and post this mail warning [fbi.gov] in high-traffic mail areas within your business if you believe you may be in one of the "Icons Of America" that these letters seem to be hitting.Re:Anthrax: Not really a good weapon anyway (Score:2, Informative)
From the article -
Despite attempts to disinfect Gruinard Island, the spores left by the experiments kept the island in quarantine for 48 years.
The final WW II report on the Gruinard Island tests suggested anthrax could be used to render cities uninhabitable "for generations".
Re:What is an "Anthrax thread"? (Score:5, Informative)
To defend against this:
Actualy considering the threat from natural stuff like hepitius-B Aids, and even cold-flu viruses, these proceedures may actualy save lost time expenses from natural illnesses too.
Personaly I consider that mail to people in your distribution channel to be at higher risk than other employees, because they handle thing that are in turn redistributed to others. Given the long incubation times between contact and symptoms for most things, a problem here would spread long before any one would know there is a problem. Its not that hard to get your janitor to put disinfectants in his cleaning solutions, use vacuumes with HEPA filtrations ect.
I'm a dental technician now and we have to recieve bio-hazardous material routinely and follow the osha standards at work, the result is I always catch my cold from the wife and kids first! this stuff works. If your org expereinces a lot of absenteeism due to illness, infection control training may actualy be profitable due to reduced absentee expenses
Re:Solution: irradiate all snail-mail (Score:2, Informative)
Paper is essentially wood pulp, and a stack of mail has a density about twice that of water, 2g/cc. How many thousands, millions of kilograms would need to be irradiated every week, and to get the right max/min ratios to assure kill, the doses would have to be up in the 40-50 range.
I wish I had moderator status to mod this suggestion as "-1 Knucklehead".