A method that enables the carrier of letters, flats and/or packages (mail)
that are addressed to a recipient to determine if the mail contains life
harming materials, before the mail is delivered to the recipient. The
invention accomplishes the foregoing by receiving mail that is addressed
to a recipient which contains material that may or may not be life
harming; capturing an image of the face of the mail, which includes the
name and physical address of the recipient; processing the image on the
face of the mail to determine if characteristics of the image match
characteristics of known mail that may contain life harming materials;
testing the mail if the image contains characteristics of life harming
material; and delivering the mail to the recipient if the image does not
contain life harming characteristics.