I heard last week a news clip about sending fruitcake through the mail this year. It was recommended that it not be done because the irradiation process (in response to the anthrax mailings)could cause the oils in the cake to go rancid...as a matter of fact they cautioned against sending any baked goods through the mail this year because of the irradiation practices. The way it was presented made it sound like a funky tasting batch of cookies would be the most of our worries...I don't know if I agree.
I have also e-mailed a couple of organic seed houses to see what they are planning to do about sending mail-order seeds this year, or if this concerns them at all...I haven't gotten any replies yet.

I have gotten some info from Johnny's Seeds and they said that the USPS would allow some packages to go through without being irradiated and seeds would go under this type of package.

According to what I have read about irradiation of mail all seeds, tubers, bulbs ect. would be killed by the amount used.

If the seed companies cannot make a deal with the post office about guarenteeing npo irradiation for seeds than they will use other companies for shipping.

Now, if you do seed swapping or buying from small growers you may get a lot of dead seeds unless they are shipping Via UPS, Fedex etc.

This was discussed & researched informally by some of the gardeners at another garden site I visit: apparently if you send seeds out in regular envelopes via USMail, you'll have your seeds destroyed. But if you package them in a box & clearly mark them as "LIVE SEED", the post office is said to not irradiate those packaged that way. That's what I was told. I want to know more before I place my 2002 seed orders or participate in any seed exchanges, though.