[Petal] & in get href

[Jonathan Vanasco]

petal seems to turn all & instances into &

i tried using & which is 'well formed xml'
no luck

then i tried changing the petal input/output formats
no luck

if i do
     tal:attributes="href structure string:a&b"

then its fine

my question is:
   must i do that?  will browsers handle & well or will that  
screw up my get/post vars