Household appliance 1, biological terrorism 0 (anthrax)

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 2006-02-20 05:19pm

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.

"He's just 17. I was 35 before I had my first publication," said Roberge's father, Dr. Raymond Roberge, a medical toxicologist who works for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in South Park. "This is just amazing to me."

Marc Roberge's idea for his Pennsylvania Junior Academy of Sciences project -- which won first place at regional and state events last year -- came after the 2001 bioterrorism attack in which letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to several news media offices and two U.S. senators. Anthrax infections killed five people. The crimes remain unsolved.

Anthrax mail scares still occur periodically. Last week, a letter containing a mysterious white powder and addressed to Americans triggered an anthrax alert at a NATO center in Norway, the Associated Press reported.

Anthrax spores, covered by a hard protective shell, can fatally infect people who inhale them deep into the lungs.

On Oct. 12, 2001, a former Soviet germ warfare specialist told members of a U.S. Congressional committee that people could use a hot steam iron through a moist layer of fabric to kill anthrax spores in mail.

This comment spawned debate about whether conventional household irons would work against the deadly agent. During a CNN interview four years ago, a reporter asked Dr. Roberge if the report was accurate.

"My response was to her was that high heat could kill anthrax, but I didn't know if a household iron would work, since no studies had been done," he said.

Roberge discussed the topic over dinner that night with his son, who decided to investigate it for his Academy of Sciences project, required as part of his Advanced Placement biology course.

For his experiments -- conducted in the family's Highland Park home and at Central Catholic in Oakland -- Marc Roberge did not use actual anthrax.

"The government might have had a little problem with that," he said.

Instead, 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.

"When the anthrax attacks happened, I thought, 'There's got to be a way to stop this,'" he said. "I just never thought it would be so easy."

Based on Roberge's findings, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center bioterrorism expert Dr. Michael Allswede doesn't recommend that people routinely press their mail.

"But should there be another threat like the anthrax attacks in 2001, it would be one of the techniques that could be used by regular people," he said.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-02-20 05:29pm

THE MORE YOU KNOW....

Good one on that kid, he'll go far. Now I have to buy an iron.

FSTargetDrone · Post by **FSTargetDrone** » 2006-02-20 05:32pm

Does this mean we can take down our duct tape-secured plastic tarps?

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2006-02-20 05:57pm

Just wait until someone engineers a hyperthermophilic strain of anthrax. Then you'll have to iron at 220 degrees C for over quarter of an hour to get most of the spores. That'd be a bitch for all the post.

CaptainChewbacca · Post by **CaptainChewbacca** » 2006-02-20 07:01pm

FSTargetDrone wrote:Does this mean we can take down our duct tape-secured plastic tarps?

YOU FOOL! THAT'S WHAT THE TERRORISTS WANT!

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-02-20 07:10pm

How does anthrax fare against radiation?

Trogdor · Post by **Trogdor** » 2006-02-20 07:17pm

You planning to microwave them?

wolveraptor · Post by **wolveraptor** » 2006-02-20 08:06pm

Well the article does say that anthrax is vulnerable to high heat. If you put enough water in there with the anthrax, it might work. Microwaves heat water best.

Majin Gojira · Post by **Majin Gojira** » 2006-02-20 09:45pm

I was expecting a Micro-wave solution, not a simple iron.

That's just awesome!

drachefly · Post by **drachefly** » 2006-02-21 03:07pm

If by 'radiation' you mean like 'radioactivity' kind of radiation, then microwave doesn't apply.

Microwaves are micro compared to radio waves, but they're gigantic compared Infrared, let alone visible light.

This is kind of useful, in that if you know anthrax is in the mail there's something you can do about it; but most often it would be a surprise. No one is going to iron all their mail every day just because they might be the first victim of a surprise anthrax-mailing attack.

Master of Cards · Post by **Master of Cards** » 2006-02-21 04:42pm

drachefly wrote:If by 'radiation' you mean like 'radioactivity' kind of radiation, then microwave doesn't apply.

Microwaves are micro compared to radio waves, but they're gigantic compared Infrared, let alone visible light.

This is kind of useful, in that if you know anthrax is in the mail there's something you can do about it; but most often it would be a surprise. No one is going to iron all their mail every day just because they might be the first victim of a surprise anthrax-mailing attack.

more then what will make you sick

drachefly · Post by **drachefly** » 2006-02-22 01:26pm

umm, what?

Azazal · Post by **Azazal** » 2006-02-22 01:40pm

Uraniun235 wrote:How does anthrax fare against radiation?

It grows to a height of several hundred feet, then goes on a rampage in Tokyo