Effect On Mail
The USPS warned that a number of products could be adversely affected, such as seeds, photographic film, biological samples, food, medicines, and electronic equipment. In addition, a number of papers and plastics have been observed to react badly to the irradiation; paper may become grayed and fragile, and some plastics have bubbled or melted.
Irradiation's effects on paper caused some alarm in the philatelic world, which sends large numbers of rare postage stamps and covers through the mail. A number of auction houses stopped sending material through the mail, and Linn's Stamp News regularly featured reports on stamps and covers that had been ruined by irradiation.
Although at one time the USPS expected to irradiate all mail, it later scaled back to just treating mail sent to government offices.
Read more about this topic: Irradiated Mail
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