Flour, talcum powder, or asbestos. It's hard to tell the difference when it comes in an envelope.
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And the head of an Australian mail isolation system says ACT government public servants aren't being adequately protected against postal powder scares.
Last week dirt in a postal vote forced the lockdown of a Civic office building and Tim Roberts, managing director of PowderSafe, said the aim of these scares was to disrupt and draw out emergency services.
"Any hazardous material incident is a drawn out process and the people who undertake this activity, it's their goal to disrupt the organisation that they send the substance-filled envelope to," Mr Roberts said.
"But the flow-on effect is that it has a disruptive effect for all of the emergency services and denies the community emergency services when they're tied up by a disruptive act by a disgruntled individual."
ACT Policing has responded to 156 reports of suspicious packages since February last year. This includes mail containing suspicious substances, a spokeswoman said.
An ACT Emergency Services Agency spokesman was unable to provide figures on how many callouts hazmat teams attended as it was a policing matter.
Mr Roberts said the ACT's government departments were vulnerable to disruptive and sometimes dangerous mailbait as they didn't have the same protective measures in place as their Commonwealth counterparts.
"The Commonwealth operates under the Protective Security Policy framework, and as part of their framework there is a requirement organisations have protective measures in place to protect the staff and the organisation from mailbait threats," Mr Roberts said
"I'm aware that some of the states and territories have adapted their own versions for the protective policy security framework including the ACT, but the ACT, it appears, has not put in place the requirement to have mail protection measures as a mandatory requirement of their PSPF."
But an ACT government spokeswoman said the ACT Protective Security Policy Framework had appropriate protective security measures in place for mail handling "that are updated to meet the changing threat environment as required".
"To maintain the security and integrity of the mailroom we do not discuss specific security procedures. The ACT government maintains a close working relationship with security and emergency services agencies to minimise risk to staff and the community," she said.
Mr Roberts acknowledged while most of the substances were benign, some were quite nasty.
"The vast majority are hoax substances, the flour, the sand, the talcum powders, glitter, sugar, all sorts of things but in among them have been harmful substances. In Australia there have been incidents with asbestos being used in envelopes, there are been incidents which have involved toxic chemicals," he said.
"It's a very low percentage of them that are actually anything of a harmful nature but because of the anthrax letters back in 2001 the response services have to take it seriously but it's usually the folks who are dealing with the incoming mail who bear the brunt of it, not normally the actual person who was targeted.
"It can be a very stressful incident that can be very disruptive for people in the workplace to deal with it, particularly if it does go to the next level where the substance used is something that causes a reaction."
An ACT Policing spokeswoman said: "ACT Policing takes all threats seriously and will respond accordingly.
"If you suspect that you have received a package that may contain hazardous material, do not panic. Do not open the item, contain the material and contact police on 131 444 for assistance," she said.
