Posted on 11/12/2010 6:25:19 PM PST by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (AFP) – Some US scientists warned the full-body, graphic-image X-ray scanners now being used to screen passengers and airline crews at airports around the country may be unsafe.
"They say the risk is minimal, but statistically someone is going to get skin cancer from these X-rays," Dr Michael Love, who runs an X-ray lab at the department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry at Johns Hopkins University school of medicine, told AFP.
"No exposure to X-ray is considered beneficial. We know X-rays are hazardous but we have a situation at the airports where people are so eager to fly that they will risk their lives in this manner," he said.
The possible health dangers posed by the scanners add to passengers' and airline crews' concerns about the devices, which have been dubbed "naked" scanners because of the graphic image they give of a person's body, genitalia and all.
The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) began rolling out full-body scanners at US airports in 2007, but stepped up deployment of the devices this year when stimulus funding made it possible to buy another 450 of the advanced imaging technology scanners.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Porno Scanners.
It’s either that or ya go in the FRisk’n’Grope line, the newest enhanced T&A family adventure from Janet Incompetento
Do they have the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval?
UL?
I was told by TSA that the exposure to X-Rays in the scanner is equivalent to flying at 30,000 ft for two minutes.
Be interesting to know if the is a stock TSA answer or bears any relation to the truth. Flying Freepers, what have you heard??
Since it doesn’t show bones, which X-rays do, it appears to be much weaker signal than real X-rays.
What with the “naked scanners” and the genital pat-downs, do you think we’ve reached the tipping point?
There’s no limit to the belated, bone-headed ideas TSA will come up with to inconvenience us. I can’t imagine what they’ll do after the “rectal bomber” or “vaginal bomber” makes headlines...
Maybe some MIT business or economics prof and his grad students will take a stab at estimating what all these airport shenannigans are costing the U.S.A. in lost overseas business and tourism. There is a limit to what people will put up with.
Eager to fly? Yeah, that's what it is.
I have to go to Japan after the first of the year to administer a proficiency inspection. Yes, it's work-related. I'm not so much "eager" to fly, it's just that driving to Japan isn't really an option.
The government doesn’t publish the skin dose per scan. Imagine that.
Yes, but by treating EVERYONE as potential terrorists, we are improving the self esteem of Muslims in this great land. What's a few cancerous lesions growing all over your chest compared to advancing peace and respect for societal differences?
The irony in all of this is that years ago, a US emergency room doctor was in South Africa, where they use a lie-down, full body X-ray machine to search for smuggled diamonds. He realized that a version of this device would save countless lives in a trauma center, being able to detect any number of hidden but critical problems quickly.
But it was not meant to be. For whatever reasons, it was decided to be impractical, or something.
If they are going to inconvenience us this way, the least they could do is provide a memory stick with your scan to bring to your next dental appointment or radiologist. Could suffice instead of your next cat scan or MRI. They should give passengers the option to drink dye prior to the scan for enhancement.
Google Maps says that you can jet ski across. s/
I remember many years back when we tried on shoes. We could place our feet in a box and it x-rayed right through the shoes to show how your foot fit in it. Those were taken away because they said to dangerous from radiation.
When I have a dental X-Ray, the technician puts a heavy lead apron over my entire body, and then scuttles into another room behind a lead wall to hit the button. This should tell you something.
Like most things that have potential negative side effects, there is no way to predict how these scans might affect frequent flyers who could easily be subjected to a hundred or more scans per year (if these things are in all major airports).
Lots of incorrect or distorted information flying about over this issue. I recommend that folks do some research before they start commenting. Here’s a place to start:
http://www.suite101.com/content/physics-and-airport-security-how-a-tsa-full-body-scan-works-a235650
My only personal interest in this dust-up is that I fly frequently and since a knee replacement 4 years ago, I have been required to undergo a pat down every time I go to the airport. I much prefer the millimeter wave radar (MMW) body scans to the pat down and will opt for the scanner every time.
I’m no technical expert on these devices, but I did direct testing of several devices for use by the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. I have observed hundreds of MMW scans in a U.S. courthouse. If sexual arousal is your goal, don’t get a job as a scanner observer, it just isn’t what you’ve been led to believe. You’d be better off getting a job bagging groceries at your local supermarket. You’ll see more there.
Millimeter wave radar is a wave length just longer than infrared. Its been deemed safe except for a theoretical study using mathematical models that suggests that there MIGHT be a problem. No other study comes close to suggesting such a thing. Backscatter radar is the other technology used by TSA and it uses the same X-Rays that we get at the doctor and dentist, except that the dosage is orders of magnitude less than you get at the doctors office. Its so low that it won’t penetrate skin. You will receive more X-Rays on your flight than you will get from a backscatter scan.
If you don’t like the scan, go for the pat down. You’ll probably be in their with all of the CAIR members insisting that they shouldn’t be given a pat down because it offends their Muslim sensibilities.
Personally, my religious belief does not allow a person of the same sex to put their hands on my body. Who in the TSA can dispute my religion?
Anyone want to join?
Forget cancer, its a strip search. So its humiliating and dangerous. Everyone just needs to refuse to walk through the scanners and they will go away.
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