Does anyone know whether the irradiation process used by the United States Post Office is harmful to seed orders sent through their system?

A good read right here on this very website:

http://www.organicgardening.com/watchdog/mail.html

Thanks, John, it was very helpful. Is there a different location within OrganicGardening.com which indexes this type of information? I did a search under "irradiated" at the WatchDog forum but the article you referenced didn't appear.

Sorry, Isaiah, I could/should have been more specific.
However, even usps.com is remarkable uninformative on the subject:

Q. Whats being done to ensure that mail items wont be damaged by the sanitization technology that the Postal Service is using?
A. The Postal Service is working with the mailing industry to develop procedures to ensure that sanitization of the mail will not damage sensitive items in the mail. Sanitization technology is currently being tested on a wide range of film products, digital and magnetic storage devices, laboratory samples, food and plant products, and "smart" credit cards with embedded chips to ensure that all business mail can be safely processed through the postal system.

This may be more informative:
http://www.post-gazette.com/garden/20020119backyard0119fnp1.asp

Hope that this helps.

John / Ecologicals

Several of the mailorder seed companies (Johnny's Shepherd's) responded to an informal email survey done by a closed garden site I belong to regarding this. Their advise to seed traders was to package seed in VERY padded envelopes or boxes to mail, clearly MARK the package as "Live Seed" & that the commercial seed companies had been assurred by the postal system that such mailings would escape irradiation. They added that you should NOT mail any seed in regular envelopes (like tucked into a greeting card) as they will be irradiated & the viability of the seed potentially compromised. Very informal survey, so take it for what it's worth.

Thanks John & lindap, it appears this will be an interesting situation to watch. I ordered seed from Territorial paying for and requesting United Parcel Service Ground and received the seed first class mail instead. They said that they had made arrangements with the Post Office and yet, there was nothing marked on the outside of the package to indicate it was seed. It did come through in a padded envelope but the padding wasn't the "very" which lindap emphasized. I certainly hope that the customer is not being duped into beta testing the shipping from these seed companies. It is certainly causing me to sort out who I purchase seed from next year. If the staff of these seed companies can't fill the customer's specific shipping request, then it's time to find a new supplier!

There is some interesting information at:

http://www.illinoisfoodsafety.org/RRAD_MAIL.php

http://americanfarm.com/grow%20top%20story%201-02c.html

isaiah40_8. Heirloom Seeds ships their seeds in a box, with Heirloom Seeds printed on the box with large letters. I just received an order from them.