U.S.

Staffers Complain About Zapped Mail

By CBSNews.com staff CBSNews.com staff

February 9, 2002 / 4:08 PM EST / CBS

More than 130 congressional workers have reported feeling sick, after handling mail treated with radiation in the wake of the anthrax mailings.

Capitol physician John Eisold said most of the sick staffers complained of headaches, rashes and eye irritation. Symptoms disappeared shortly after the staffers avoided contact with the mail, he said, and speculated the symptoms might be coming from some irritant on the irradiated mail.

However, Eisold said it shouldn't threaten long-term health.

Eisold also said he has received 50 complaints about odors at the Hart Senate Office Building.

The building re-opened last month after extensive decontamination for anthrax.

A congressional regulatory body said Monday it would launch an investigation to see if there were a link between health complaints by Capitol Hill employees and the irradiation of lawmakers' mail or the cleanup of buildings after last year's anthrax attacks.

Bill Thompson, executive director of the Office of Compliance, said his office had received a number of health complaints from employees both in the House and the Senate, but declined to provide any figures due to confidentiality concerns.

"We take these health complaints extremely seriously," Thompson said, adding that his office had responded to a senator's request to investigate the complaints.

Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley sent a formal request to the Office of Compliance asking it to begin an inquiry into the possible ill-effects from irradiated mail and the cleanup of the Hart building.

Five people died last fall as a result of handling anthrax-tainted mail, which led to a massive campaign by the U.S. Postal Service to sanitize mail, especially mail destined for politicians on Capitol Hill.

Two of the people killed were postal employees who worked at the Brentwood postal facility, which processes mail for the federal government.

The U.S. Postal Service has sought to reassure government workers that procedures used since the anthrax scare to sanitize their mail were not a health hazard despite reports of burning eyes, sneezing and itching among those handling irradiated letters.

Postal Service spokeswoman Kristin Krathwohl said there was "no scientific or medical evidence to suggest people were getting sick from the irradiation process.

"However, something is obviously making people feel ill and so we are continuing to look at it," she said.