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CNN Live At Daybreak

Public Concerns about Opening Mail

Aired October 30, 2001 - 06:57   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: If the anthrax attacks have you worried about opening your mail, fear not. Our Jeanne Moos has uncovered some interesting ways to protect yourself from the unknown.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It used to be getting mail was something you looked forward to, but these days it inspires precautions once reserved for the restrooms.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, I'm just washing my hands afterwards.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm very queasy about it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife makes me open up the mail outside.

MOOS: She doesn't.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She really does, I swear to God. I live in New Jersey.

MOOS: What is on your head?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A bird just...

MOOS: At least that's a more innocent form of bioterrorism.

Good old American capitalism is trying to capitalize on the anthrax scare.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, that's good (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, whala (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, wow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, there you go.

MOOS: See-through transparency spray lets you examine the contents of an envelope before you open it.

GEOFF MEITEEN, PRESIDENT, CARETECH SECURITY: It was originally developed as a spy tool. MOOS: Developed in Israel, now Geoff Meiteen has formed a company to market it over the Internet for $19.95. He demonstrated how the spray could reveal the presence of, in this case, talcum powder.

MEITEEN: Once it's dried you would never know that anything had happened to the envelope.

RHODA LEVENSON, OWNER, BRENNER PAPER: Anthrax has been giving the envelope industry a bad name.

MOOS: Rhoda Levenson's company, Brenner Paper, makes envelopes and now she's begun marketing translucent ones.

LEVENSON: We call it safety view (ph).

MOOS: Intended for use by direct marketers worried about a public weary of junk mail.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know any kind of junk mail or anything we just toss.

MOOS: The drawback is that safety view is about seven times more expensive. As for privacy,...

LEVENSON: You're not sending your personal love letters in this. You're still getting love letters aren't you, Jeanne?

MOOS (on camera): Well.

(voice-over): For companies worried about hate mail, there's the safe sorter. The mail handler places a suspicious letter in the airtight container, puts hands through the gloves and then opens the envelope, but most folks we talked to weren't panicking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. No, I can't live that way.

MOOS: For those willing to live anyway...

MANNY PERAZA, PRESIDENT, POLAR 5: This contraption is the bioshelter.

MOOS: As reported in the "New York Times," for $2000 bucks this plastic tent with an air filtration system could sustain a family of four.

PERAZA: Three days at max that we want a family to stay with inside the shelter, but it can -- it can be longer.

MOOS: A 21st century bomb shelter right in your living room. When it comes to security, we're pushing the envelope.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh geez. OK.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I wouldn't open that one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

MOOS: To think that just a couple of months ago our biggest postal complaint was the price of a stamp.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

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