From: Church, Chuck (cchurch@xxxxxxxx)
Date: Thu Oct 18 2001 - 14:10:21 GMT-3
Yeah, but won't the heat set off all the letter bombs prematurally :)
-----Original Message-----
From: nobody@groupstudy.com [mailto:nobody@groupstudy.com]On Behalf Of
Michael Snyder
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2001 10:40 AM
To: ccielab@groupstudy.com
Subject: OT - (Simple Solution for Anthrax Letters)
Sorry Paul for the OT, I just felt the need this once to share.
I had an idea last night on my drive home, and I wanted to get it into the
public domain. I'm sure I'm not the first, but I haven't heard anyone else
mention it.
We have a problem right now with letters with biological agents. Mainly the
problem is that we have people sending bacteria to other people thru the
mail service. I can't foresee this stopping anytime soon. Mail from oversea'
s will be suspect from now on.
Here's the rub, we deal with bacteria all the time. One easy example I can
think of is plain old milk. We pasteurize milk every day of the year and
never think a thing about it. When we pasteurize something, we just raise
the temperature a few hundred degrees for a few seconds to kill the
bacteria.
New question, can we do this with paper? Yes. Paper and some plastics can
take quite a bit of heat. I'm thinking of the high temperature clear plastic
that's used on TV dinners. Also let me stress I'm only talking about
letters, not packages.
Next question, can we do this in bulk? Yes. Most Post Offices have a series
of machines used to sort the mail, adding one more machine into the line
would be pretty easy.
Ok, what method could we use to pasteurize our mail? I can think of three.
First one, The large photo driers that use heavy heated rollers. Also large
paper roller machinery come to mind.
Second one, Forced hot air, like the ones used in the conveyor ovens at
Pizza Hut.
The third is my favorite, first we increase moisture content of the letters
a
few percentage points, then instantly raise the temperature of the letters
with microwaves to kill the bacteria. Very quick, and nothing catches on
fire.
That's my idea, feel free to use it. One added advantage is that I wonder
how many times we have unknowingly sent the flu thru the mail?. Pasteurizing
the mail should take care of any biological agent (small pox, flu, etc) to
some degree.
BTW, anyone who can get a trouble free Mail Pasteurization machine to the
market first should become rich. Think of the market, Post offices around
the world, Large Companies, US Gov, etc.
Michael Snyder
CCNP-Security/DP, MCSE, CCIE Candidate (2nd Lab attempt)
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