Post Office to Ban Germ, Toxin Mailings

Germs and dangerous toxins will be banned from the mail under new regulations announced Friday in the wake of congressional concern over reports that the military has increased shipments of such items.

The action is being taken “to ensure the safety and health of . . . customers and employees,” the Postal Service announced. “The Postal Service is concerned that some customers are planning increased use of the mails for sending disease germs or hazardous toxins.”

No date was set to implement the new rules, which must go through a formal regulatory process before they can take effect.

Hailed Regulations

Jeremy Rifkin, who heads the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, hailed the decision as a step toward avoiding a potential catastrophe. He said he will now turn his attention to the Transportation Department, which he wants to investigate shipments of dangerous products by private carriers.

Various products, including biological warfare toxins, have been mailed in the past under strict packaging and labeling rules, and postal officials say no problems have occurred.

Army Lab in Utah

The controversy over mailing disease-causing germs first ignited when the Army proposed building a laboratory for biological warfare in Utah, prompting concerns about the shipment of deadly material to and from the facility.

Army officials have told a House subcommittee that they ship few parcels containing biological items, and those almost always are sent by private, commercial carrier.

While attention has focused on shipments of germs and toxins by the military, the federal Centers for Disease Control and other medical establishments also make such shipments, officials said.

The CDC said there are about three cases a year of leaks involving toxic material covered by the proposed ban, but none of the mishaps have resulted in infection.

The planned new rules would cover dangerous items, but would not affect the mailing of blood samples and other such materials being sent to laboratories for routine medical testing, the Postal Service said.

Variety of Items

Postal regulations already prohibit the mailing of a variety of items, including strike-anywhere matches, explosives, fuses, many poisons, most flammable liquids and certain chemicals.

Many other items, such as corrosives, compressed gases, herbicides, pesticides and certain other poisons, can be mailed only in certain types of packages and in specific quantities.

Of more than 10,000 shipments of biological items over a 16-month period, fewer than 10% were hazardous items, the CDC’s Dr. John W. McVicar told a House subcommittee.

Of those, the agency said only three reports of leaks were received and none resulted in any infection.

“Our experience to date seems to support the opinion, expressed by medical experts, that there is little risk associated with handling properly packaged etiologic agents,” Postmaster General Anthony Frank said in a letter to Rifkin.