[Jewelry making - Article 00823] - Re: [Orchid] Postal Irradiation

[Laura Wiesler]

========[ Invite a Friend - http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm  ]========


    Hello All -- I just received my March newsletter from Stuller, which
    included an article about the postal service's irradiation practices
    and a test that they ran with the help of the company that produces
    the equipment that the post office uses (a subsidiary of Titan Corp.)
    .  They made up three packages of materials that included two types
    of cultured pearls and eight different gem species -- all of which
    were natural --  and packaged them the same way that they would
    package them  in their own mailings.   They had the packages scanned
    anywhere from one to four times, with the understanding that any one
    stone is often in the mail more than one time. 

    The first thing they checked for was residual radiation and did not
    detect any.  Then they checked the stones / pearls for any obvious
    changes in appearance.  All of the gem material -- except for the
    diamond -- showed a dramatic change in color; this was whether or not
    the material had been scanned once or multiple times.  (In their
    test, they found that only the colorless quartz showed degrees of
    change based on the number of scans.) 

    They also spoke with officials in the postal service, who indicated
    that the post office is now only scanning a small portion of the
    mail and of that, only letters and flat envelopes.  They were also
    told that certified / registered mail would probably not be scanned
    as they all require information from the sender.  They also contacted
    U.S. Customs Service, Brinks, UPS, Fed Ex and Malca Amit about their
    practices and were told that they were not planning to use
    irradiation procedures at this time. 

Just more info folks --
Laura.
lwiesler AT att.net

____________________________________________________________________
T h e   O r c h i d   L i s t
Open Electronic Forum for Jewelry Manufacturing Methods and Procedures
____________________________________________________________________
Orchid FAQ:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/faq.htm
Orchid Archives:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/archive
Orchid Galleries:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/orchid/gallery.htm
Invite a Friend:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/invite.htm
____________________________________________________________________
Tips From The Jeweler's Bench - Article Archive
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/borisat/tip_sear.htm
The Jeweler's Selected Bibliography List
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/jewelry-books
Buy Orchid Jewelry:
~ http://www.ganoksin.com/shop
____________________________________________________________________
-Unsubscribe:
-Email: orchid-request AT ganoksin.com Body=unsubscribe subject=blank
____________________________________________________________________