Don't forget to put the newline back in, though...

while ($requests = <REQUESTS>) {
  chomp $requests; #remove any endline characters

  #if all endline characters are wiped, 
  #check for nothingness
  if ($requests ne "") {
     # add newline for lines we're printing 
     print MAIL "$requests\n"; 
  }
}
[download]

--
Mike