As a result of an environmental impact statement by the 
Department of the Army regarding its intent to use the mails for 
transportation of etiologic agent material from and to the 
Dugway, Utah, defense biological laboratory, concerns were raised 
for the safety of the public as well as postal employees. 
Because of the increased potential for mailings of this type, as 
well as for certain diagnostic specimens, which may contain such 
viruses as Hepatitis B or those related to AIDS, action was 
considered necessary to eliminate a potential public health 
hazard from the mails. 
The Postal Service, therefore, proposed in the Federal Register 
of June 24, 1988, to prohibit the mailing of etiologic agents, or 
material reasonably believed to contain them, which are required 
to bear an Etiologic Agents/Biomedical Material label under 
Department of Transportation and Department of Health and Human 
Services (CDC) rules. 
Proposed rules are published in the Federal Register to give all 
concerned parties an opportunity to comment regarding their 
impact. The comments and concerns of interested parties are 
thoroughly evaluated. At the conclusion of this evaluation 
process, a decision is made to publish a final rule, or withdraw 
the proposed rule, or publish another proposed rule. There is no 
specific time frame in which this decision must be made so that a 
thorough evaluation, including the use of additional expertise, 
can be accomplished. 
Recombinant DNA Research, Volume 13 
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