WASHINGTON Suspicious powders still upset post offices

The false alarms still take a toll on nerves and time.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- From powdered alfredo sauce mix to detergent to the sand included in invitations to a beach-front wedding, materials leaking from packages and envelopes have disrupted the nation's post offices more than 20,000 times since the 2001 anthrax-by-mail attacks.
While nearly all have turned out to be false alarms, they take a toll on nerves and work time, and must be taken seriously because of the anthrax mailings -- which included two postal workers among the five killed -- and the more recent mailings of the poison ricin.
"A person will see something on a machine, the floor, a case, leaking out of an envelope or box," said Patrick R. Donahoe, the U.S. Postal Service's chief operating officer. "They have been instructed, if they see something like that, to consider it dangerous."
The area is then sealed off, and local hazardous materials teams and the Postal Inspection Service are called in, he said.
Recent case
In one case Feb. 11, three post offices in Petersburg, Va., were closed after white powder was seen leaking from a package addressed to Switzerland. The sender, a woman, had told a postal worker the package contained perfume. A Fort Lee decontamination team, equipped with oil drums and chemical suits, responded. Police cordoned off two blocks, and three postal workers and one firefighter received medical treatment as a precaution.
Tests ruled out dangerous materials.
While there isn't a pattern, more of the alarms tend to be in the East than in the West, Donahoe said, probably because the anthrax attacks occurred in Eastern cities and workers there may be more sensitive to the potential danger.
Postal inspector Molly McMinn said all have been false alarms other than the ricin and anthrax cases. Still, she said, responding to false alarms drains resources.
Postal Service officials said they couldn't estimate the cost of checking out suspicious packages.
Lost time
How much time is lost depends on the facility, Donahoe said. In a large one, only an area may have to be evacuated, while a smaller office may have to be shut down, he said.
It also depends on the community. Some have equipment that can conduct a field test quickly while others have to send the material to a lab.
"I think that by responding quickly, the employees feel we're taking their best safety and health into consideration," Donahoe said.
Some suspicious powders have turned out to be harmless products like powdered alfredo sauce, ground lentils, pudding mix and coffee creamer, McMinn said. Other cases involved leaking samples of detergent, sugar or baking soda.
The Postal Service itself had used talc to keep dry the shipments of stamps sent to collectors.
Cause for alarm
One anonymous reader told the trade publication Linn's Stamp News that he had six firefighters, two police officers and the local haz-mat crew in his living room after noticing powder when he opened a package of stamps.
The post office now uses a non-powder dry board in its stamp packages.
Asked about the impact on workers, William Burrus, president of the American Postal Workers Union, said: "Obviously, our members want to be assured that items that are suspected of being dangerous are proven not to be. The fact that there are numerous occasions is not a negative."
What concerns Burrus is an incident like the recent ricin letter addressed to the White House, in which the Secret Service delayed informing other agencies, including the Postal Service, about it.
Every day, hundreds of workers across the country suffer some illness or other, but if they aren't told that they may have been exposed to a danger in the workplace, they may not get proper treatment, Burrus said.