The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reported Monday that a high school senior has discovered a technique for destroying anthrax bacteria in the mail. The weapon he used is this.
Protecting yourself from biological weapons might be as simple as using a hot clothes iron.
Through a project for a statewide science competition, Central Catholic High School senior Marc Roberge discovered truth in the urban legend that ironing can kill anthrax spores in contaminated mail.
His findings will appear in the June edition of the Journal of Medical Toxicology, which publishes peer-reviewed research papers. It is an accomplishment usually reserved for Ph.D.-level scientists and physicians.
The beauty of Roberge's discovery is that it allows normal people (as well as the paranoid) to defend themselves against anthrax attacks through the US Mail.
[For his experiment, he] substituted a more heat-resistant but harmless bacterial spore from the anthrax family that scientists often use as a surrogate.
Marc Roberge placed paper strips laden with millions of spores inside standard envelopes, and then ironed the mail at various dry heat settings for up to 15 minutes.
He found that an iron adjusted to the hottest setting -- at least 204.5 degrees Celsius, or 400 degrees Fahrenheit -- and used for at least 5 minutes destroyed all spores so no bacteria would grow. The iron didn't open the letters or make pen-written addresses hard to read, Roberge said.
This is offered as a public service.
Other public service announcements:
Extricating yourself from quicksand.
Treating Bird Flu with sauerkraut.
No comments:
Post a Comment