[nikomat 24708] anthrax and film

[Shin SUGIYAMA <ssugiya@biol1.bio.nagoya-u.ac.jp>]

すぎやま　です
アメリカでは郵便物中のanthrax（炭疽菌）を殺すために
郵便物を電子線で照射するようです。
全部やるのかどうかは判りませんが
まず首都ワシントンから導入するそうです。
γ線を使うと言う話もありましたが、
この記事では電子線です。
あと荷物検査程度のＸ線では菌は死なないのです。
問題は郵便で現像所にフィルムを送っている人が多いことで
アマチュアのフィルムの5％も占めるそうです。


あと、郵便は危ないけどFedexなどのcurrier便は差出人が確認されているので
犯罪に使われにくいという解釈で安全視されているようです。



Devices used to kill anthrax in the mail may threaten film
October 30, 2001, 9:16 PM EST
ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP)--The electron-beam devices called into service
by the U.S. Postal Service to kill anthrax could destroy film in the
mail, officials at photo companies said.
On Friday, the post office signed a $40 million contract to buy eight
electron-beam devices to sanitize letters and packages. The equipment
will be used first in the nation's Capitol, intended to protect
against anthrax or other biological agents sent in letters and
packages.
Some mail already has been sent to an irradiation company in Ohio.
The Postal Service and the vendor supplying the devices, Titan Corp.,
based in San Diego, Calif., have not publicly commented on the film
question.
It is thought the beams would ruin exposed and unexposed film that
passes through them, though experts are not certain.
"There's an awful lot of scrambling going on trying to get
information as it develops. It is a major concern," Kodak spokesman
James Blamphin told the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle on Tuesday.
The company is assembling a package of film products that will be
sent to an independent laboratory with an electron beam scanner.
About 5 percent of the amateur photographic film that processed in
the United States is handled by mail-order companies, according to
the Photo Marketing Association International. That represented about
40.5 million rolls of film in 1999.

Copyright ゥ 2001, The Associated Press