Anthrax Killer Also Harms Some Mail

Titan Corp.’s anthrax-zapping technology that the U.S. Postal Service will use to sanitize mail also ruins unprocessed and unused film and damages some electronics, the San Diego-based company said.

Titan’s machines douse envelopes and packages sent down a conveyer belt with electron beams and X-rays, sterilizing the bacteria. The process will make the mail safer to handle and help ease public worry amid the finding of anthrax spores in post offices around the U.S.

Though the technology has been hailed by the Postal Service as a way to keep the mail safe, it has left companies like PhotoWorks Inc., a Seattle-based Internet and mail-order photo finisher, trying to figure out how to get its products to customers without being damaged.

Credit cards and compact discs aren’t affected by the radiation.

A Postal Service spokeswoman said it is considering other ways to send film and electronics by mail without causing damage while still sanitizing the contents.

Titan’s technology was developed by its SureBeam Corp. unit, and until now it has been used on medical equipment and to kill food-borne bacteria, such as E. coli .

The Postal Service last week agreed to spend $40 million for eight SureBeam systems.

Titan shares slipped 8 cents to $26.05 on the New York Stock Exchange. Shares of SureBeam fell $1.24 to $12.21 on Nasdaq.