# What kills Anthrax?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 13, 2001, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285 "2001-10-13T19:03:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dunne\_u.wurrie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dunne_u.wurrie)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2001, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/1 "2001-10-13T19:03:21Z")
Would, for instance, putting your mail in the microwave before opening it (for less time than it takes the letter to burst into flames!) render the germs impotent?
Or would the germs then simply take Viagra to counteract the effects?
Would irradiating the mail on a mass scale (say, at the post office) kill the little suckers?
Should our government be looking into this? Is it?
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### Author:  [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2001, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/2 "2001-10-13T19:08:42Z")
My understanding is that anthrax spores are tough little bastards, and there isn’t much that’s capable of killing them. Sorry.
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### Author:  [@Chickenhead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chickenhead)
#### Post date: [October 13, 2001, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/3 "2001-10-13T21:15:46Z")
Me.
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### Author:  [@dave316](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dave316)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/4 "2001-10-14T04:33:32Z")
paper kills anthrax
anthrax kills scissors
rock kills anthrax
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### Author:  [@Violet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Violet)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/5 "2001-10-14T05:31:37Z")
Looks like there have been experiments with killing anthrax. Here is a 1998 article:
[http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9899/Sep30\_98/22.htm](http://www.umich.edu/~urecord/9899/Sep30_98/22.htm)
> [@](#):
>
> BCTP’s effectiveness against anthrax spores is especially significant because they are so difficult to kill. “Spores are like freeze-dried bacteria,” Baker explains. “Their tough outer coat is resistant to disinfectants, freezing, drought, virtually anything we can throw at them. Spores can survive in the environment for many years and still generate live bacteria when given the right combination of water, nutrients and temperature.”
>
> Concentrated doses of strong disinfectants like bleach or formaldehyde will kill anthrax spores, according to Baker. Unfortunately, they also are toxic to people and the environment, which makes them useless for decontaminating a person, a piece of land or equipment exposed to the bacteria.
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### Author:  [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/6 "2001-10-14T13:29:43Z")
An article from the _Independent_ (London) that was reprinted in the _Daily Yomiuri_ (Tokyo) this morning supports the information in **Violet** ’s cite.
“The Truth About Anthrax”, Steve Connor
> [@](#):
>
> “In a test that was to become notorious, scientists exploded a number of anthrax bombs on the remote island of Gruinard [during WWII]”
> …
> “But Gruinard proved something else, too: that it is extrordinarily difficult to get rid of anthrax spores once they are in the ground. Even 45 years after the experiment took place, spores on Gruinard were still capable of causing disease. In the end, it took constant spraying with a solution of formaldehyde and sea water over a period of mamny weeks, using 30 miles of perforated tubing, to rid the island of its biological pest.”
So the answer to your question would be, “nothing that doesn’t kill everything else as well.”
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### Author:  [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/7 "2001-10-14T20:24:55Z")
What really kills them is when they’re doing a show and the audience doesn’t really seem into it.
Oh! Sorry.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [October 14, 2001, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/8 "2001-10-14T23:36:45Z")
With so much misinformation being circulated by [sensationalist media](http://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/conditions/10/12/anthrax.qanda/index.html), be thankful we have the [Anthrax Education Center](http://eel.sexsexworld.com/eel/anthrax.html). 😉
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### Author:  [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2001, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/9 "2001-10-16T00:11:31Z")
I would expect gamma irradiation to kill anthrax spores and I think there is a least a possibility that microwave radiation might work. However, I can’t find any publications on the subject that aren’t in Russian (which I can’t read).
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### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2001, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/10 "2001-10-16T00:32:57Z")
What kills Anthrax?
{B}SLAYER!\*\*
😉
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### Author:  [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2001, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/11 "2001-10-16T00:41:05Z")
On CNBC their “expert” said “irradiation” would kill it.
I wonder about bleach. It is pretty good at killing a lot of stuff.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2001, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/12 "2001-10-16T02:20:06Z")
Microwaves don’t actually do much. Ionizing radiation probably would, but we’re talking like 5,000 kilorads (1 kilorad is lethal to humans). For your average home user, it’s pretty much fire or nothing. And it’s hard to read your mail after setting fire to it.
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### Author:  [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2001, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/13 "2001-10-16T02:21:53Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Smeghead \*
> **Microwaves don’t actually do much.**
To anthrax spores. That wasn’t a comment on microwave radiation in general. Sorry.
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### Author:  [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2001, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/14 "2001-10-16T02:23:36Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by elmwood \*
> **What kills Anthrax?
> {B}SLAYER!**
Yes, {B}SLAYER[sup]tm[/sup] Bat-poison should help prevent anthrax by keeping your home bat-free. You should also avoid bat-based food products, just to be sure. Thank god we have the [Anthrax Education Center](http://eel.sexsexworld.com/eel/anthrax.html) to arm us with this useful information.
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### Author:  [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2001, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/15 "2001-10-16T11:06:00Z")
Preview, damnit, self … preview!
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### Author:  [@Yeah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yeah)
#### Post date: [October 18, 2001, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/16 "2001-10-18T15:34:00Z")
On the microwave question, here is something from an expert. (MHJ is Martin E. Hugh-Jones, a bona fide anthrax expert.
“[Someone has been posting a statement seemingly by myself concerning microwaving envelopes. ProMED-mail did not post such a statement.
We have done this for an extended period and saw no change in the viability of spores. It is now being repeated for longer time periods. But again, so far we have not been able to demonstrate that microwaving anthrax spores does anything harmful to them. I wish it did. Life would be much simpler. - Mod.MHJ]”
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### Author:  [@Doctordec](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctordec)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2001, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/17 "2001-10-19T12:59:33Z")
I used to work for Johnson & Johnson many years ago and at the time they used a very powerful ionizing radiation source (not microwaves) to sterilize Band Aids and gauze after they were packaged. I wasn’t in that division but I think they used a radioactive material rather than generated radiation like X-rays. It’s a bit dangerous and it took some time to make sure they were sterile but it was effective.
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### Author:  [@justwannano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justwannano)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2001, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/18 "2001-10-19T21:28:29Z")
Yesterday CNN interviewed someone that said microwaves would not kill anthrax.
Someone else,I believe it was the Capitol Police rep said they disenfect with chlorine bleach.
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### Author:  [@Cargogal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cargogal)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2001, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/19 "2001-10-19T21:37:54Z")
I heard on the radio that some “bioweapons researcher” said that ironing your mail would do it.
_ahem_
We use 70% EtOH to kill anything that might infest our cell cultures. Give it a shot. As a digital child, the only paper mail I receive is bills.
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### Author:  [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)
#### Post date: [October 19, 2001, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-kills-anthrax/87285/20 "2001-10-19T22:45:10Z")
Here in San Diego, we have a company called TitanScan that makes a device used for ‘electron beam exposure’. My understanding is that it is some kind of gamma radiation emitting device that controls the emmissions and concentrates them to a small area.
The company has had a lot of success irradiating meat to kill e.coli and (I think) samonella, both of which are bacterias.
When the whole anthrax scare started, they immediately jumped on that and found that by increasing the power, they could kill those little bastards too. So their stock went through the roof, they are rumored to be getting a contract with the US postal service, but I can’t confirm anything…other than that I’ve heard people talking about it…
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