diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajContentHandler.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajContentHandler.java
index 6c2da8f2..ca4c70b8 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajContentHandler.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajContentHandler.java
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ import javax.xml.soap.SOAPException;
 
 import org.springframework.core.CollectionFactory;
 import org.springframework.util.Assert;
+import org.springframework.util.StringUtils;
 import org.xml.sax.Attributes;
 import org.xml.sax.ContentHandler;
 import org.xml.sax.Locator;
@@ -78,10 +79,12 @@ public class SaajContentHandler implements ContentHandler {
             String childPrefix = getPrefix(qName);
             SOAPElement child = element.addChildElement(localName, childPrefix, uri);
             for (int i = 0; i < atts.getLength(); i++) {
-                String attributePrefix = getPrefix(atts.getQName(i));
-                if (!"xmlns".equals(atts.getLocalName(i))) {
-                    Name attributeName = envelope.createName(atts.getLocalName(i), attributePrefix, atts.getURI(i));
-                    child.addAttribute(attributeName, atts.getValue(i));
+                if (StringUtils.hasLength(atts.getLocalName(i))) {
+                    String attributePrefix = getPrefix(atts.getQName(i));
+                    if (!"xmlns".equals(atts.getLocalName(i))) {
+                        Name attributeName = envelope.createName(atts.getLocalName(i), attributePrefix, atts.getURI(i));
+                        child.addAttribute(attributeName, atts.getValue(i));
+                    }
                 }
             }
             for (Iterator iterator = namespaces.keySet().iterator(); iterator.hasNext();) {
diff --git a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReader.java b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReader.java
index 9d384ac0..1c410b3a 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReader.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/org/springframework/ws/soap/saaj/support/SaajXmlReader.java
@@ -94,7 +94,7 @@ public class SaajXmlReader extends AbstractXmlReader {
     }
 
     private void handleText(Text text) throws SAXException {
-        if (!text.isComment() && getContentHandler() != null) {
+        if (getContentHandler() != null) {
             char[] ch = text.getValue().toCharArray();
             getContentHandler().characters(ch, 0, ch.length);
         }