I received a mass mailing from the National Park Service in DC regarding the experience with irradiated mail arriving at the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register requires archivally-stable documentation, including photographs. To quote:
"Unfortunately the mail has been severely damaged by the irradiation process. Photographs have melted and bubbled, paper has yellowed and become brittle, and pages are stuck together. Irradiation also destroys electronic media such as computer disks...." Photographers beware if mail irradiation becomes widespread. Not only will this affect the mail processing industry, but even sending snapshots to relatives. (For that matter, it looks like it may affect notes to relatives, letters, bills, checks, nearly everything.) I haven't heard anything lately about whether the Postal Service still plans to implement irradiation widely. Joe - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
