The U. S. government has enlisted two San Diego companies to mount a high-tech response to the mailed bioterrorism threat.
The U.S. Postal Service has placed an order with Titan Corp. for eight electron-beam and X-ray sterilization systems to sanitize mail that may be contaminated by anthrax bacteria. The systems will be built into assembly lines.
As a short-term solution, the government has been shipping Washington, D.C., mail to a Titan medical sterilization facility in Lima, Ohio, where it is treated to kill anthrax.
Titan will provide the systems, operate them and maintain them under the $40 million deal with the Postal Service, the company announced Oct. 26.
Titan’s electron-beam technology “rapidly and effectively destroys deadly bacteria and spores,” noted a recent Titan promotional video.
The company expects to deliver the first system this month. It will go to Washington, D.C.
The Postal Service also has an option to buy 12 additional systems.
As prime contractor, Titan has gone to sister company SureBeam Corp. to buy the electron-beam systems. SureBeam will get $26 million of the $40 million Postal Service contract. Titan indicated SureBeam will get more work if the Postal Service exercises its option for additional systems.
SureBeam has been promoting its systems to treat meat and fruit against bacteria and pests. Some call the process irradiation, but the company prefers to call it electronic pasteurization, noting the systems get their power from electricity, not radioactive elements.
Titan markets the system under the Titan name for non-food uses, such as medical sterilization.
Titan and SureBeam technology went to work on the mail during the last half of October as the magnitude of the anthrax scare was still becoming apparent.
Anthrax-tainted letters were sent to news organizations and government officials, and it later became clear that the spores were affecting postal workers.
As of Oct. 31, two employees had died from anthrax, and the Postal Service had distributed antibiotics to several thousand employees.
Titan has now dedicated its Lima medical sterilization facility to Postal Service work, said a Titan spokesman. He declined to provide terms of the agreement.
Titan stock closed at $13.25 per share Oct. 31. It had been trading as low as $4.69 per share during the month.
SureBeam stock closed at $26.13 on Oct. 31. It had been trading as low as $17.82 per share during the month.
SureBeam began as a unit of Titan. Its initial public offering was in March. Titan retains a majority stake in SureBeam and has plans to distribute SureBeam shares to Titan shareholders.
