North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Ginda Fisher <ginda@concentric.net>]

If people may be killed by moving packages, there is no reason why the
mail - and not other parcel services - should be irradiating stuff. 
That is, the moral argument for FedEx, UPS, etc. to irradiate their
parcels is exactly the same as for the USPS.  Even the services that
track parcels don't really keep track of the sender - I've never been
asked for ID when mailing my own stuff, and corporate accounts (which
any employee typically has access to) are even easier to use.  You just
grab an authorization sheet, fill in the corporate account number, and
drop the parcel in a box.  I see the account numbers of the clients who
send stuff to me - it wouldn't be hard to "steal" a number to confuse
the trail. So it's not a question of paying a little more, it's a real
question of access.

I understand the Post Office is trying to set up rules to figure out
what needs to be irradiated.  In addition to plants, etc., film and
credit cards would also be ruined.  Some food (think holiday fruit)
would also be damaged.

I've never received an unexpected plant from an unknown source in the
mail, so I would think that something that purported to be a plant would
either look suspicious or not pretty reliably.  Credit cards are
trickier, as for obvious reasons, the envelopes can't say "credit card
enclosed" in big letters.  But I am hopeful the USPS can figure this out
in a way that gets the mail through.

I've also heard they are considering electron-beam instead of gamma ray
radiation sources.  The former could be shielded by foil.  That would be
a problem for plants and bulbs that need to breathe, though.

Ginda

Thomas Olenio wrote:
> 
> Hello Doreen,
> 
> It is unfortunate, but when I weigh a single death against the added
> expense of moving seeds, there is no debate for me.
> 
> Unless you can offer up an idea that steralizes mail without harming seeds
> I cannot get behind you.
> 
> Possibly you could inform us as to alternatives that exist to what they
> propose?  Without an alternative there is no forum for debate.
> 
> Possibly the postal service could set up a separate mail stream for seeds
> and living material (yeast, myco fungi, etc).  It of course would have to
> go through some alternate inspection method and that will most likely
> cost more too.
> 
> I am not happy to have to pay more for shipping seeds (if UPS doesn't
> decide to do it too), but I am less happy about people losing their lives.
> 
> Let us know.
> 
> Regards,
> Tom
> --
> 
> On Thu, 25 Oct 2001, Doreen Howard wrote:
> 
> > Since the US Postal Service has decided to buy cobalt-gamma ray
> > irradiation
> > equipment to sanitize the mail, we plant people have a big problem.
> > Seeds
> > and live plants exposed to this irradiation will be altered genetically.
> > Several seed companies have already contacted their elected
> > representatives
> > about this.  What can we do as individuals?  Should be we be worried?  I
> > am.
> > Does this mean that seeds (which are light in weight) will now have to be
> > sent via UPS or Fed-EX at much higher rates?  How does this effect an
> > already struggling garden industry?  Let the discussion begin.  And,
> > email
> > your elected representatives about your concerns.
> > Doreen Howard
> >
> >
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