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Despite billions of dollars spent on America’s security, the mailroom remains a vulnerable gap through which a terrorist or prankster can bring a company or government to its knees.
Anthrax mailings have been big news since 2001, and yet parcel-borne pathogens are still a threat. Just this month both the Wall Street Journal and Harvard University received “powdered mail.”
There is no way to completely eliminate the threat of mail and parcel-based assaults, according to Robert Hahn, the president of Stamford, Conn,-based Clovis Point Solutions LLC, a mail security consultancy. That includes anthrax or salmonella or any other types of biological agent that might be developed.
But one local company thinks it has a solution to disinfect mail before it gets to its recipient. Boston-based BioDefense Corp., founded in 2001 by CEO and chairman Michael Lu, offers a machine called the MailDefender to its clients, which include the U.S. Department of Justice and the United Nations in New York.
“It’s the only proactive prevention that kills the biopathogen before it gets distributed,” said Jonathan Morrone, senior executive vice president at BioDefense.
Outside of the standard autoclave, which is used in hospitals to decontaminate instruments, there isn’t anything out there to destroy the mail-carried agents, said Hahn. Autoclaves rely on steam to kill pathogens, and can seriously damage or destroy mail, said Hahn.
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) itself deploys a biohazard detection system from Northrop Grumman in every letter-processing and distribution center, said Christine Dugas, spokeswoman for the USPS’s Boston district. The system both tests the mail and the letters for anthrax and other biohazards; if a substance is detected, an alarm is sounded and the employees isolated. The USPS gear doesn’t destroy the pathogen, which would require eliminating the letter and potential criminal evidence, said Dugas.
However, said Hahn, not all of the USPS mail and packages are screened, and the pathogens it can screen for are limited.
This makes for a promising outlook from BioDefense’s perspective, which is planning a major expansion in the next five months, BioDefense will hire 65 more employees in Boston to assist in manufacturing and other operations. At this point the company is seeking strategic corporate partners to assist its marketing efforts.
After two years of development, BioDefense now is ready to ship its MailDefender III next-generation machine. Workers place up to 100 pieces of mail at a time inside the machine, which has an internal wheel that rotates for 45 minutes while evenly exposing letters to an array of pathogen-killing technologies. These include microwave, ultraviolet light, and broad beam lights, to kill ricin, anthrax, ebola, and plague; the company even claims the machine can absorb the shock of a mail bomb.
The kill-first approach is unique and does boost safety, noted Hahn. “If you kill anything in the mail that might be harmful and it spills out, you’re less concerned than if you hadn’t,” he said. “It won’t make the white powder go away,” said Hahn, “but it will make recipients less afraid when they do see it.”
In addition to the threat of sickness or the loss of life, there are potential effects of powdered mail, noted experts. The costs for companies that do get a pathogen in the mail face serious cleanup costs, and it’s preferable to have some sort of defense in place. “Cleanup can cost as much or more than it cost to build the building in the first place,” said Hahn.
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